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'.

It is funded by a Dubai-based hedge fund controlled by Christopher Chandler, an intensely private billionaire originally from New Zealand.

Legatum is advocating a 'hard' Brexit.

Political influence

Legatum is described by a pro-EU critic of the institute as having ‘unparalleled access to Davis and Theresa May', which 'seems to have been at the origin of some of the preposterous positions on Brexit taken by the government so far'.

Legatum’s Shanker Singham, says the Times ‘holds regular meetings with Brexit secretary David Davis and international trade secretary Liam Fox.

Legatum has also met with:

• Michael Gove, environment secretary, in June 2017 to discuss 'EU Exit advice'.
• Priti Patel, international development secretary, in February 2017 to discuss 'international development policy' alongside the Institute of Economic Affairs and others.
• George Bridges, Brexit minister in February 2017 and September 2016 to discuss the 'impact of UK exit from EU'
• Boris Johnson, foreign secretary, in December 2016 to discuss ‘post Brexit issues’

• Tobias Ellwood, then Foreign Office minister in November 2015

Brexit influence

Legatum told the Times that it had never been anti-EU, merely seeking 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.

Special Trade Commission

In the wake of the Brexit vote, Legatum set up a Special Trade Commission. Its aim is to 'present a roadmap' for the UK's trade negotiations, which must be 'expansive'; and 're-focus the public discussion on Brexit to a positive conversation on opportunities, rather than challenges'.

Former Special Trade Commission members

• Crawford Falconer: in June 2017 former Legatum 'commissioner', Crawford Falconer, was appointed by the UK government as its first chief trade negotiations advisor, and second permanent secretary in the Department of International Trade.

Special Trade Commission members

The commission is an all-male line-up:

• Shanker Singham, Chair of the Legatum Institute Special Trade Commission; see below for more.
• Alden Abbott, Deputy Director and Senior Legal Fellow at Heritage Foundation; former US government official; adviser to International Competition Network
• Francisco Sanchez, former Under Secretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce (under Obama); chair of CNS Global Advisors; also serves in senior positions for two private equity funds
• Grant Aldonas, former Under Secretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce (under Bush); adviser to Center for Strategic and International Studies; founder-MD of Split Rock International, a Washington-based trade and investment consulting firm
• John Weekes, former Canadian NAFTA negotiator and ex-official in the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; adviser at the Canadian law firm Bennett Jones; on the board of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, which helps address key challenges faced by the Canadian agri-food industry.
• Luis de la Calle, former Undersecretary of International Business Negotiations, Ministry of Economy in Mexico; founder-MD of De la Calle, Madrazo, & Mancera (CMM); he was an adviser from 2012 to Hill and Knowlton Latin America.
• Alan Oxley, former Australian diplomat; sits on the advisory board of European Centre for International Political Economy; MD of ITS Global, Consultants on Global Issues, Australia
• Lockwood Smith, former New Zealand diplomat who was NZ High Commissioner
• Razeen Sally, academic and adviser to governments, business and international organisations, with a research focus on trade policy in Asia, the WTO and preferential trade agreements. He is chair of Sri Lankan Institute of Policy Studies, adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and co-Director of the European Centre for International Political Economy think tank based in Brussels. He is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.

Special Trade Commission staff

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

Financial services lobbying

In July 2017 it was reported that the Legatum Institute had teamed up with another think tank, the Financial Services Negotiation Forum to create the Legatum Financial Services Forum. Their joint aim is to put pressure on government to secure a good Brexit deal for financial services. It is to be led by Legatum's Shanker Singham.

TheFinancial Services Negotiation Forum was created after Brexit to give a platform for the financial services industry to make its voice heard during the process of leaving the EU.

Prosperity UK conference

The institute acted as 'advisers' to the Prosperity UK Conference held in London on 26 April 2017.

Prosperity UK says it was created 'to encourage leaders from business, universities and policy-making to look constructively at Britain's future outside the European Union.'

Director of Prosperity UK is Alex Hickman, co-Director of Change Britain, formerly of Vote Leave and ex-advisor to David Cameron and ex-CEO of Open Europe.

People

• Baroness Philippa Stroud, CEO
• Shanker Singham, Director of Economic Policy and Prosperity Studies; described in his biog as 'one of the world's leading trade and competition lawyers', Singham is a lawyer from Surrey with a 20-year career in the US and is a former trade advisor to the US government. Although, a one-time senior US trade official told the Times, he was surprised to see Singham described in the British press as a “former trade negotiator”. “He didn’t negotiate anything” on behalf of the US government, the former official said. “Trade negotiator is a bit of a stretch.” Singham is also CEO of Competere Group, which says it has 'successfully engaged governments around the world who seek to harness the power of the market economy through a comprehensive pro-competitive regulatory framework'. Singham's London-based firm Comptere Group has also joined with Washington's Transnational Strategy Group and the Brussels-based lobbying firm EPPA to 'create a Brexit practice group' to help companies understand the policy landscape and advise on strategy. Singham formerly led the market access practice of US law firm Squire Patton Boggs. He is also an adviser to the International Competition Network
• 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

Former staff/fellows

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

Trustees

• Alan McCormick
• Ellen Agler
• Toby Baxendale
• Richard Briance
• Simon Brocklebank-Fowler
• Jane Siebels
• Philippa Stroud
• Rob Vickers

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, Legatum 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)