David French

David French attended Durham University where he took a degree in Politics, Sociology and Psychology. Previous to becoming the Director of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy he was Chairman of the Commonwealth Institute. He has been a consultant to the BT Forum and an associate of Compass Partnership, a consulting practice which specialises in the not for profit sector. [1]

He was a trustee of the Family Policy Studies Centre [2] and was involved with the establishment of a new charity, the Twenty First Century Foundation. He undertook the General Management Course at WPP Group's Henley [3] from May to July 1984 and the Cabinet Office Top Management Programme in June-July 1995. [4]

The Commonwealth Institute was an agency of the British Government [5] , Governed by individuals such as Algy Cluff [6] who has been Chairman and Chief Executive of Cluff Mining since 1996, having founded Cluff Oil (subsequently Cluff Resources) in 1971. Cluff was also Chairman (and former Proprietor) of The Spectator, a Trustee of the Anglo-Hong Kong Trust, and a Director of the Centre for Policy Studies. [7]

Faced in 1993 with the prospect of closure through the withdrawal of British Government funding — "an embarrassing episode for the Institute but a shameful one for the British Government" according to French [8] — the Institute reconceived itself and in 2000 was restructured as an Educational Trust. [9] [10]

French is also part of The Round Table and was on the editorial board of The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs — which is comprised of mostly 'diplomats. The organisation now begrudgingly aknowledges the critical interpretation of the Round Table which can be found in Carroll Quigley’s writing on The Anglo-American Establishment and what he terms 'finance capital'. [11] The Round Table is thought of a the fore-runner of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, The Bilderberg Group and Council on Foreign Relations. [12]

The Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and Commonwealth Institute (CI) were similar organisations, [13] operating with much the same budget with a cross-over of people. The CI is involved in "Representing the Commonwealth to the British public; mounting exhibitions and maintaining collections; and providing educational programmes, library and information services, and operating a major conference and events centre;" while the WFD's terms of reference are: "To assist the development of pluralist democratic institutions overseas. Priority regions are Central/Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and anglophone Africa."

Former senior diplomat, Robert Alston took over French's role in representing CI in its international relationships. [14] Alston was Assistant Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and has worked in Kabul (1963), Tehran (1974) and head of the Joint Nuclear Unit at the FCO (1978), Political Counsellor to the UK delegation to NATO (1981) Head of the Defence Dept., (1984) and Ambassador to Oman (1986-90).

Judith Hanratty, is the 'Chairman' of the Commonwealth Institute, she is also a member of the Council of Lloyd’s of London, Non-executive Director of Partnerships UK plc, Charles Taylor Consulting plc and the British Standards Institution, a former Company Secretary and Counsel to the Board of BP p.l.c., Member of the Competition Commission, the Takeover Panel and the Listing Authority Advisory Committee to the Financial Services Authority. [15] [16]