Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom

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The Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom was formed in 1994 through a merger of the British Atlantic Committee and Peace Through NATO.[1] It functions to support NATO and Western military interests. It is closely connected to TUCETU with whom it had a joint conference in 1998 and 1999.

By its own account on its website of 2006:

The Atlantic Council was formed in 1994 when the British Atlantic Committee and Peace Through NATO joined. Both these organisations had a long history of supporting the Alliance but in the post Cold War period it was felt that there was sufficient overlap to bring about a merger.
The Atlantic Council receives funds on an annual basis from Her Majesty's Government. However, the Council acts in a non-party political way. This is reflected in the fact that it numbers all three major party political leaders among its patrons. The Council has a President, many distinguished patrons and a management Board.

It stated:

The main thrust of the work of the Council is in schools. We believe that it is very important that students have some knowledge of security issues. These are looked at in the context of life in a democracy.[2]

It is a member of the Atlantic Treaty Association.

People

Circa 2005

December 2009

The following information is taken from the Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom website as of December 2009:[4]

  • Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale - Chair. After a long and distinguished career in HM Diplomatic Service, Meta Ramsay was Foreign Policy Adviser to Rt Hon John Smith as Leader of the Labour Party and later special adviser to Rt Hon Jack Cunningham, Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. She entered the Lords in 1996.

Baroness Ramsay has been a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee as well as having been a Government Whip and Deputy Speaker in the House of Lords.

  • Lord Patten of Wincanton - Co-President

John Patten was the Member of Parliament for Oxford and later Oxford West & Abingdon from 1979 to 1997 and was Secretary of State for Education from 1992 to 1994. He was raised to the Peerage in 1997.

  • Lord Robertson of Port Ellen - Co-President

Lord Robertson, KT GCMG FRSA FRSE PC, represented Hamilton and later Hamilton South in Parliament for twenty-one years. Rising to become Secretary of State for Defence in 1997, he was appointed Secretary-General of NATO in 1999, aq post he held with great acclaim for five years.

  • Gordon Brown – Patron: “NATO has emerged from the Cold War with a new sense of purpose, and I am keen that the UK is a driving force behind its continued development and strong leadership role; the Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom has an important part to play in spreading this message”
  • David Cameron - Patron: “I am delighted to be a Patron of the Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom and am wholly supportive of both the Council and its mission”
  • Nick Clegg - Patron: “I fully support the work of the Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom in promoting and explaining the role of NATO and am delighted to act as Patron”

Resources

See also: Atlantic Council of the United States, Atlantic Council.

The previous Atlantic council website was at http://www.atlantic-council.org.uk/ Its contents are not available on the internet archive, having been blocked by the Atlantic council.[5]

The website of the Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom current as of December 2009 is at http://atlanticcounciluk.org/wp

Notes

  1. This information was formerly (January 2006) at http://www.atlantic-council.org.uk/. As at December 2009 this website is defunct and the text is no longer available even in the web archive.
  2. This account was taken from the Atlantic Council of the UK website http://www.atlantic-council.org.uk/about_us.htm as at January 2006. As at December 2009 this website is defunct and the text quoted is not available even in the Wayback Machine web archive.
  3. Atlantic Council - Credits
  4. People, Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom website, 10 Dec 2009
  5. Internet Archive http://www.atlantic-council.org.uk/, accessed 8 December 2009