Policy Exchange
Encyclopedia
Policy Exchange is a British conservative
think tank
based in London
. The Daily Telegraph
has described it as "the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the right". The New Statesman named it as David Cameron's "favourite think tank", a view shared by the Political Editor of the Evening Standard
Joe Murphy, who referred to it as "the intellectual boot camp of the Tory modernisers’". Its alumni include Anthony Browne
, one of London Mayor Boris Johnson
’s policy directors, and a number of the Conservative 2010 intake of MPs, including Nick Boles, Jesse Norman
, Chris Skidmore and Charlotte Leslie
.
It describes itself as seeking localist, volunteer and free market
solutions to public policy problems, with research programmes covering health, education
, energy
and environment
, crime and justice, welfare, housing policy, family policy and security. It works with academics and policy advisors across the political spectrum, and members of its advisory councils include Lord Trimble, Peter Clarke
, former, Head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, James Cameron, Executive Director of Climate Change Capital
, and Simon Stevens, former health advisor to the Prime Minister
. Policy Exchange hosts regular events and debates with key individuals including academics, journalists, MPs and Ministers. The Annual Colin Cramphorn Memorial Lecture, has been delivered by speakers such as Sir Ian Blair, Charles Farr and General David Petraeus.
Policy Exchange authors have included former Government advisor Professor Dieter Helm, economist Robert Shiller
, author and broadcaster Bill Bryson
, historian and journalist Anna Reid
, and former Financial Times journalist John Willman.
Policy Exchange is a registered charity.
, then-Chairman Michael Gove
and Francis Maude
MP. Maude names his being one of the co-founders as his proudest political achievement. Michael Gove went on to become Secretary of State for Education. Charles Moore
, former editor of the Spectator
and the Daily Telegraph took over as Chairman. In May 2007, Nicholas Boles was replaced by former Times correspondent Anthony Browne
. Browne was in turn succeeded in August 2008 by Neil O'Brien
.
According to Gove, "Policy Exchange were a tiny band of guerrillas, partisans in the hillside fighting a lonely campaign, but now, that tiny guerrilla band has turned into the most formidable regular army on the thinktank battlefield."
In October 2007, Policy Exchange published a report on the Muslim community in the UK, uncovering the extent of extremism
within mainstream mosques and Muslim institutions. The report entitled The Hijacking of British Islam: How extremist literature is subverting mosques in the UK was described as "a year long investigation carried out by Policy Exchange into the character of the literature currently available in mainstream sites of Islamic religious instruction in the UK." According to the report, four Muslim research teams visited nearly 100 Islamic sites in the UK "to determine the extent to which literature inculcating Muslim separatism and hatred of nonbelievers was accessible in those institutions - both in terms of being openly available and also being obtainable 'under the counter'." The researchers claimed to have found offensive material at around a quarter of the sites visited and this became the report's most publicised claim in the media.
presented material which the programme suggested showed that some of the receipts purporting to prove the sale of extremist material had been forged, and that some of the literature had come from bookshops purportedly unconnected to the mosques named in the report. Newsnight’s claims were as follows:
Policy Exchange responded to the individual cases cited by the BBC, arguing that there was still evidence to link each of the institutions to extremist literature. They have said 'The receipts are not ... mentioned in the report and the report’s findings do not rely upon their existence'. The BBC have suggested this is a tacit admission that some of the receipts were forged, and that it draws into question the whole testimony in the report.
The chairman of Policy Exchange, Charles Moore, responded in the Daily Telegraph saying that Jeremy Paxman
"accused Policy Exchange itself, which the Newsnight report had not done, of fabricating receipts" and claimed that the forensic expert concluded that "the relatively limited amount of writing available for comparison has prevented me from expressing any definite opinion". Newsnights editor, Peter Barron
, disputed this subsequently in a letter to the Telegraph stating, "Charles Moore's attack on Newsnights investigation into a report by Policy Exchange is a distortion of the truth and does him no credit".
Since the investigation, The Times
, which had featured the Policy Exchange report on its front page, retracted part of the story, stating that "We would like to make clear that the bookshop situated near the East London Mosque (“Lessons in hate found at leading mosques” and “Studies in Hate”, 30 Oct) is a commercial tenant of the Mosque and is situated on different premises. The Chairman of the Mosque, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari has no responsibility for or control over the material that is being sold there. We apologise to Dr Bari for any distress caused." This mosque was not featured in the Newsnight report, though it was a central plank of the Policy Exchange's report because of the fact that Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari was also the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain
. Seumas Milne in The Guardian
newspaper added two more mosques to the list, stating that Rochdale mosque said it had never sold any books, and that material said to have been found in Edinburgh had merely been dumped there.
These new allegations were disputed in a letter to The Guardian by Policy Exchange's Director Anthony Browne, stating that it had not claimed that Rochdale was selling the material, that it had in fact been made available for free. He also added that "East London Mosque does not dispute that extremist literature is sold at the East London Mosque bookshop, which is based on ELM premises and provides till receipts bearing the name "ELM Book Centre". The mosque chairman, Muhammad Abdul Bari, who is also secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain
, merely makes the surprising claim that he has no responsibility for what is sold in the bookshop'.
On Friday 15 August 2008, The Independent reported that two mosques mentioned in the Report, the Al-Manar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre and the North London Central Mosque, were preparing to take legal action against the Policy Exchange.
In February 2009 Al-Manar withdrew its legal action when a clarification appeared on Policy Exchange's website, in which the think tank reaffirmed that it had never asserted that the Al-Manar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre had knowingly promulgated extremist literature.
The September 2009 issue of the magazine The Middle East in London, published by the London Middle East Institute at SOAS, contained an erratum statement in which the magazine withdrew comments by Arun Kundani in the previous issue. Kundani had written that Policy Exchange had 'apologised' for The Hijacking of British Islam and removed it from its website. The London Middle East Institute stated it "was wrong to make these claims", and that "Policy Exchange has never apologised to anyone for the publication of its Report, and has no intention of doing so in the future." It also stated that the removal of the Report from Policy Exchange's website was part of the routine refreshing of the site's content.
On 26 November 2009, Justice Eady struck out the claim brought against Policy Exchange by the North London Central Mosque. The six mosque trustees who had advanced the claim were ordered to pay Policy Exchange's costs of defending the action. The High Court made a further Order that £75,000 of those costs be paid by the North London Central Mosque within 28 days.
In February 2010 the trustees of the mosque abandoned their individual claims in libel against Policy Exchange in respect of the same report and paid a substantial contribution to Policy Exchange’s legal costs.
In October 2010 NLCM discontinued its appeal and paid a substantial contribution to Policy Exchange’s legal costs. Following that agreement the appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 5 October 2010.
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
has described it as "the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the right". The New Statesman named it as David Cameron's "favourite think tank", a view shared by the Political Editor of the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
Joe Murphy, who referred to it as "the intellectual boot camp of the Tory modernisers’". Its alumni include Anthony Browne
Anthony Browne
Anthony Browne may refer to:*Anthony Browne , author and illustrator of children's books*Anthony Browne , journalist, author, and policy director for London mayor Boris Johnson...
, one of London Mayor Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
’s policy directors, and a number of the Conservative 2010 intake of MPs, including Nick Boles, Jesse Norman
Jesse Norman
Alexander Jesse Norman a British Conservative politician who is the Member of Parliament for Hereford and South Herefordshire. He was selected at an open primary in December 2006. He was a director at Barclays before leaving the City in 1997 to research and teach at University College...
, Chris Skidmore and Charlotte Leslie
Charlotte Leslie
Charlotte Ann Leslie is a British Conservative Party politician. She was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Bristol North West constituency on 6 May 2010.She attended Badminton School and Millfield....
.
It describes itself as seeking localist, volunteer and free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
solutions to public policy problems, with research programmes covering health, education
Education policy
Education policy refers to the collection of laws and rules that govern the operation of education systems.Education occurs in many forms for many purposes through many institutions. Examples include early childhood education, kindergarten through to 12th grade, two and four year colleges or...
, energy
Energy policy
Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity has decided to address issues of energy development including energy production, distribution and consumption...
and environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
, crime and justice, welfare, housing policy, family policy and security. It works with academics and policy advisors across the political spectrum, and members of its advisory councils include Lord Trimble, Peter Clarke
Peter Clarke (police officer)
Peter John Michael Clarke CVO OBE QPM is a retired senior police officer with London's Metropolitan Police most notably having served as a Deputy Assistant Commissioner with the Specialist Operations directorate, commanding the Counter Terrorism Command.-Early and personal life:Clarke holds a...
, former, Head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, James Cameron, Executive Director of Climate Change Capital
Climate Change Capital
Established in 2003, Climate Change Capital is a private investment manager that invests in carbon finance projects in developing countries, Cleantech companies headquartered in Europe and renewable energy projects and commercial green buildings in the United Kingdom.As of December 2010, Climate...
, and Simon Stevens, former health advisor to the Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
. Policy Exchange hosts regular events and debates with key individuals including academics, journalists, MPs and Ministers. The Annual Colin Cramphorn Memorial Lecture, has been delivered by speakers such as Sir Ian Blair, Charles Farr and General David Petraeus.
Policy Exchange authors have included former Government advisor Professor Dieter Helm, economist Robert Shiller
Robert Shiller
Robert James "Bob" Shiller is an American economist, academic, and best-selling author. He currently serves as the Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics at Yale University and is a Fellow at the Yale International Center for Finance, Yale School of Management...
, author and broadcaster Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson
William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before moving back to the US in 1995...
, historian and journalist Anna Reid
Anna Reid
Anna Reid is a journalist and author whose work focuses primarily on the history of Eastern Europe.-Early life:Reid read law at Oxford University and studied Russian History at the University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies...
, and former Financial Times journalist John Willman.
Policy Exchange is a registered charity.
History
It was set up in 2002 by Founder Director, Nicholas BolesNicholas Boles
Nicholas Edward Coleridge "Nick" Boles is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for the Grantham and Stamford constituency in Lincolnshire...
, then-Chairman Michael Gove
Michael Gove
Michael Andrew Gove, MP is a British politician, who currently serves as the Secretary of State for Education and as the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the Surrey Heath constituency. He is also a published author and former journalist.Born in Edinburgh, Gove was raised in Aberdeen...
and Francis Maude
Francis Maude
Francis Anthony Aylmer Maude is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he currently serves as the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, and as a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Horsham...
MP. Maude names his being one of the co-founders as his proudest political achievement. Michael Gove went on to become Secretary of State for Education. Charles Moore
Charles Moore
Charles Moore may refer to:*Charles Moore , America Olympic hurdler*Charles Moore , director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney...
, former editor of the Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
and the Daily Telegraph took over as Chairman. In May 2007, Nicholas Boles was replaced by former Times correspondent Anthony Browne
Anthony Browne
Anthony Browne may refer to:*Anthony Browne , author and illustrator of children's books*Anthony Browne , journalist, author, and policy director for London mayor Boris Johnson...
. Browne was in turn succeeded in August 2008 by Neil O'Brien
Neil O'Brien
Neil O'Brien is Director of the centre-right think tank Policy Exchange. He was appointed in August 2008, succeeding Anthony Browne and Nicholas Boles in this role....
.
According to Gove, "Policy Exchange were a tiny band of guerrillas, partisans in the hillside fighting a lonely campaign, but now, that tiny guerrilla band has turned into the most formidable regular army on the thinktank battlefield."
Notable Publications
The Hijacking of British IslamIn October 2007, Policy Exchange published a report on the Muslim community in the UK, uncovering the extent of extremism
Islamic extremism
Islamic extremism refers to two related and partially overlapping but also distinct aspects of extremist interpretations and pursuits of Islamic ideology:...
within mainstream mosques and Muslim institutions. The report entitled The Hijacking of British Islam: How extremist literature is subverting mosques in the UK was described as "a year long investigation carried out by Policy Exchange into the character of the literature currently available in mainstream sites of Islamic religious instruction in the UK." According to the report, four Muslim research teams visited nearly 100 Islamic sites in the UK "to determine the extent to which literature inculcating Muslim separatism and hatred of nonbelievers was accessible in those institutions - both in terms of being openly available and also being obtainable 'under the counter'." The researchers claimed to have found offensive material at around a quarter of the sites visited and this became the report's most publicised claim in the media.
Newsnight investigation
On 12 December 2007, two months after the publication of The Hijacking of British Islam, BBC's NewsnightNewsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
presented material which the programme suggested showed that some of the receipts purporting to prove the sale of extremist material had been forged, and that some of the literature had come from bookshops purportedly unconnected to the mosques named in the report. Newsnight’s claims were as follows:
- Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre, West London - forensic analysis showed there was a possibility that the receipt had been written by the same person as one purporting to be from Masjid as-Tawhid in Leyton, ten miles away.
- Masjid as-Tawhid, Leyton - two different receipts were linked to the mosque, one for one set of extremist material purchased from a bookshop close to the mosque but, it is claimed, independent of it, and a second completely different receipt printed on an inkjet printer, but in the name of the mosque.
- Euston Mosque - books were said to have been purchased from "Euston Mosque 202 North Gower Street", however this is actually the address of UK Islamic Mission (which is not a mosque). Euston Mosque is 204A North Gower Street, and says it has never sold any books of any kind.
- Finsbury Park MosqueFinsbury Park MosqueNorth London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park, London was built in the 1990s to serve the large Muslim population in the area. It has a capacity of 1,800 people....
- the mosque disputed that it sold the books at all. Analysis showed that the receipt, as with all the other disputed receipts, had been printed on an inkjet printer.
- Al-Muntada Mosque - although the books listed are sold by the mosque on its website, the mosque said that the receipt supplied was fake. Forensic analysis showed the receipt had been printed on a home inkjet printer, and that the receipt from High Wycombe Muslim Education Centre could have been written out resting on top of it.
- High Wycombe Muslim Education Centre - it was "concluded with absolute certainty that this receipt was written out while resting on the receipt from Al Muntada mosque, which is 40 miles away in West London".
Policy Exchange responded to the individual cases cited by the BBC, arguing that there was still evidence to link each of the institutions to extremist literature. They have said 'The receipts are not ... mentioned in the report and the report’s findings do not rely upon their existence'. The BBC have suggested this is a tacit admission that some of the receipts were forged, and that it draws into question the whole testimony in the report.
The chairman of Policy Exchange, Charles Moore, responded in the Daily Telegraph saying that Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Dickson Paxman is a British journalist, author and television presenter. He has worked for the BBC since 1977. He is noted for a forthright and abrasive interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians...
"accused Policy Exchange itself, which the Newsnight report had not done, of fabricating receipts" and claimed that the forensic expert concluded that "the relatively limited amount of writing available for comparison has prevented me from expressing any definite opinion". Newsnights editor, Peter Barron
Peter Barron
Peter Barron is Google's head of public relations for Britain, Ireland and the Benelux countries.Immediately prior to his appointment in 2008 the Belfast-born journalist had for four years been editor of the BBC programme Newsnight.-References:...
, disputed this subsequently in a letter to the Telegraph stating, "Charles Moore's attack on Newsnights investigation into a report by Policy Exchange is a distortion of the truth and does him no credit".
Since the investigation, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, which had featured the Policy Exchange report on its front page, retracted part of the story, stating that "We would like to make clear that the bookshop situated near the East London Mosque (“Lessons in hate found at leading mosques” and “Studies in Hate”, 30 Oct) is a commercial tenant of the Mosque and is situated on different premises. The Chairman of the Mosque, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari has no responsibility for or control over the material that is being sold there. We apologise to Dr Bari for any distress caused." This mosque was not featured in the Newsnight report, though it was a central plank of the Policy Exchange's report because of the fact that Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari was also the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain
Muslim Council of Britain
The Muslim Council of Britain is a self-appointed umbrella body for national, regional, local and specialist organisations and institutions from different ethnic and sectarian backgrounds within British Islamic society. It was established in 1997 to help Muslims, to increase education about the...
. Seumas Milne in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper added two more mosques to the list, stating that Rochdale mosque said it had never sold any books, and that material said to have been found in Edinburgh had merely been dumped there.
These new allegations were disputed in a letter to The Guardian by Policy Exchange's Director Anthony Browne, stating that it had not claimed that Rochdale was selling the material, that it had in fact been made available for free. He also added that "East London Mosque does not dispute that extremist literature is sold at the East London Mosque bookshop, which is based on ELM premises and provides till receipts bearing the name "ELM Book Centre". The mosque chairman, Muhammad Abdul Bari, who is also secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain
Muslim Council of Britain
The Muslim Council of Britain is a self-appointed umbrella body for national, regional, local and specialist organisations and institutions from different ethnic and sectarian backgrounds within British Islamic society. It was established in 1997 to help Muslims, to increase education about the...
, merely makes the surprising claim that he has no responsibility for what is sold in the bookshop'.
On Friday 15 August 2008, The Independent reported that two mosques mentioned in the Report, the Al-Manar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre and the North London Central Mosque, were preparing to take legal action against the Policy Exchange.
In February 2009 Al-Manar withdrew its legal action when a clarification appeared on Policy Exchange's website, in which the think tank reaffirmed that it had never asserted that the Al-Manar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre had knowingly promulgated extremist literature.
The September 2009 issue of the magazine The Middle East in London, published by the London Middle East Institute at SOAS, contained an erratum statement in which the magazine withdrew comments by Arun Kundani in the previous issue. Kundani had written that Policy Exchange had 'apologised' for The Hijacking of British Islam and removed it from its website. The London Middle East Institute stated it "was wrong to make these claims", and that "Policy Exchange has never apologised to anyone for the publication of its Report, and has no intention of doing so in the future." It also stated that the removal of the Report from Policy Exchange's website was part of the routine refreshing of the site's content.
On 26 November 2009, Justice Eady struck out the claim brought against Policy Exchange by the North London Central Mosque. The six mosque trustees who had advanced the claim were ordered to pay Policy Exchange's costs of defending the action. The High Court made a further Order that £75,000 of those costs be paid by the North London Central Mosque within 28 days.
In February 2010 the trustees of the mosque abandoned their individual claims in libel against Policy Exchange in respect of the same report and paid a substantial contribution to Policy Exchange’s legal costs.
In October 2010 NLCM discontinued its appeal and paid a substantial contribution to Policy Exchange’s legal costs. Following that agreement the appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 5 October 2010.
Staff
- Danny Finkelstein, Chairman
- Neil O'BrienNeil O'BrienNeil O'Brien is Director of the centre-right think tank Policy Exchange. He was appointed in August 2008, succeeding Anthony Browne and Nicholas Boles in this role....
, Director - David Skelton, Deputy Director
- Sian Hansen, Managing Director
- Nick Faith, Head of Communications
- Dr Simon Less, Head of the Environment & Energy Unit
- James Groves, Head of the Education Unit
- Dean GodsonDean GodsonDean Godson is a Research Director on security issues at Policy Exchange, Contributing Editor of Prospect Magazine, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Ulster....
, Head of the Foreign Policy & Security Unit - Blair Gibbs, Head of Crime and Justice Unit
- Matt Oakley, Head of Enterprise, Growth and Social Policy
- Chris Yiu, Head of Digital Government