Foreign Policy Centre

The Foreign Policy Centre is a UK think tank which identifies itself as "an independent think-tank committed to developing innovative thinking and effective solutions for our increasingly interdependent world. It was launched in 1998 by the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Tony Blair MP and the then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Rt Hon Robin Cook MP." 

Since then, Robin Cook has resigned in protest against Blair's support of the war in Iraq, and has been writing increasingly critical articles in newspapers about him.

Former Communications Director of the Foreign Policy Centre, Rob Blackhurst, in the New Statesman writes: "...My former employer, the Foreign Policy Centre (patron: Tony Blair), has accepted more than £100,000 from an unnamed Russian oligarch to establish a programme on Russian democracy. The money does not come directly; it is channelled through London PR companies presided over by a retinue of former new Labour special advisers. The PR people want to shift public sympathy away from Vladimir Putin, who is at odds with several oligarchs, and they are no doubt delighted that the project has led to a paper criticising Downing Street's closeness to the Russian president..."

A fringe meeting organized by the Foreign Policy Centre at the 2003 Labour Party conference was sponsored by Nestle.


 * Patron - Tony Blair
 * President - Robin Cook
 * Director - Mark Leonard (also from Demos)

Advisory Council

 * Sir Michael Butler
 * Fred Halliday
 * Baroness Helena Kennedy
 * Lord Levy
 * John Lloyd
 * Adam Lury
 * Lord Paul
 * Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale

Staff and Associates

 * Stephen Twigg-Director
 * Adam Hug-Policy Director
 * Josephine Osikena-Programme Director, Democracy and Development
 * Anna Owen-Events & Projects Director
 * Feng Zhang-Programme Manager, China

Research Assistants

 * Thomas Bradley-Research Assistant
 * Simona Sikimic-Research Assistant
 * Alfie Stroud-Research Assistant
 * Caroline Weselak-Research Assistant

Associates

 * Anthony Bailey, OBE-Chief Policy Adviser
 * Yasmin Alibhai-Brown-Senior Research Associate
 * Thiago de Aragao-Senior Research Associate
 * Tahirih Danesh-Senior Research Associate
 * Alex Bigham-Research Associate
 * Philip Fiske de Gouveia-Senior Research Associate
 * Phoebe Griffith-Senior Research Associate
 * Simon Hix-Senior Research Associate
 * Alan Johnson-Senior Research Associate
 * Dick Leonard-Senior Research Associate
 * Mark Leonard-Senior Research Associate
 * Dan Plesch-Senior Research Associate
 * Richard Youngs-Senior Research Associate
 * Tom Blass-Research Associate
 * Geoffrey Cameron-Research Associate
 * Seema Desai-Research Associate
 * Eman Ebed-Research Associate
 * Rebecca Simon-Research Associate
 * Richard Gowan-Research Associate
 * Ella Rolfe-Associate
 * Mariam Ghorbannejad-Associate
 * Christopher Jenkins-Associate
 * Pavel Miller-Associate
 * Chris Phillips-Associate
 * Ranj Alaaldin-Associate
 * Niall Ahern-Associate
 * Elahe Mohtasham-Senior Research Associate
 * Matthew Eagleton-Pierce-Global Fellow
 * Andrew Monaghan-Global Fellow

Contact details
Suite 14, 2nd Floor 23-28 Penn Street Hoxton London N1 5DL Tel: +44 (0)20 7729 7566 Fax: +44 (0)20 7729 7668 Email: diane.fisher AT fpc.org.uk Web: http://www.fpc.org.uk

Related Sourcewatch

 * Greg Austin