Legatum Institute

The Legatum Institute is a London-based 'international think tank'.

It says its work is focused on 'understanding, measuring, and explaining the journey from poverty to prosperity for individuals, communities, and nations'.

Brexit influence

Legatum told the Times that it had never been anti-EU, merely the “best possible Brexit”. However, its Director of Economic Policy, Shanker Singham, has taken a 'hard Brexit' position.

Singham is a vocal advocate of Britain leaving the European single market and customs union; he advocates unilaterally slashing some of our tariffs to let in cheaper exports (a move which would destroy the UK's small farmers); and proposes the setting up a giant free-trade zone of “like-minded nations” including Singapore, Switzerland and the US.

Singham has become one of the most influential figures in forging Britain’s post-Brexit trade policy, according to the Times. He holds regular meetings with Brexit secretary David Davis and international trade secretary Liam Fox, promoting his vision of a liberalised Britain pursuing free trade around the globe.

In June 2017, he was also a guest of Brexit minister at the Foreign Office's country pile, Chevening House, which was attended by 33 of the UK's business leaders. Singham was the only 'think tanker' present.

Since early 2017, it has also employed former CEO of the Vote Leave campaign, Matthew Elliott.

People

• Baroness Philippa Stroud, CEO
• Shanker Singham, Director of Economic Policy and Prosperity Studies
• Cristina Odone, Director of the Centre for Cultural Transformation
• Nathan Gamester, Chief Operating Officer
• Alastair Masser, Director of Communications

Senior fellows

• Matthew Elliott, Senior Fellow
• Danny Kruger, Senior Fellow
• Stephen Brien, Senior Fellow
• James Sproule, Senior Fellow
• Nicola Cobbold, Senior Fellow

Members of its Special Trade Commission

• Victoria Hewson, Senior Counsel, Special Trade Commission
• Dr Radomir Tylecote, Senior Research Analyst, Special Trade Commission

Former staff

• Iqbal Quadir - the centre’s executive director is the founder of GrameenPhone, a profit-making company that provides universal cellphone access in Bangladesh.

Funding

Legatum says on its website that it is funded - its staff and premises in Mayfair - 'by the generosity of our founders through the Legatum Foundation'. This is the 'development arm' of the Legatum Group, the Dubai-based hedge fund of New Zealander Christopher Chandler.

According to Private Eye

With his brother Richard, [Christopher Chandler] turned a family inheritance of $10m into $5bn... The Chandlers’ Sovereign Global Investment made money by finding undervalued assets the rest of market ignored, Richard explained – “transition economies or distressed sectors where information is not easily available and standard metrics don’t apply”. Sovereign was one of the first funds to pile into Brazil when the country opened to outside investors in 1991. It moved into Russia after the collapse of communism, and bought up assets in Japan and Korea during the banking crisis of the early 2000s.'

Affiliations

According to libertarian activist Simon Clark, it is affiliated to the Liberty League, whose purpose is "to help inform, recruit and develop supporters of liberty", among students.

Resources

• New York Times article regarding Legatum Center at MIT (September 2007)