Report Of: for Decision Director of Public Relations

Home , Alastair Campbell, Danny Alexander, David Willetts, Ed Balls, Oliver Letwin

Committee: Policy and Resources Date: 13 December 2012

Subject: Public Financial support of the Mile End Group Report of: For Decision Director of Public Relations

Summary

The Mile End Group (MEG) is the Queen Mary, University of London’s (QMUL) forum for government and politics and was created in December 2003 by research students of Peter Hennessy, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History, at QMUL. The MEG is a formidable network of academics who are joined by politicians past and present, civil servants, journalists and business- people who come together on average once a month to attend lectures, receptions and dinners to hear and talk to VIPs from the world of government. The MEG has hosted high-profile guests over the past nine years including Ed Balls MP, Alastair Campbell, Sir John Major, Lord Mandelson, Baroness Manningham-Buller, Andrew Marr, Lord O’Donnell, Sir David Omand, Jeremy Paxman and David Willetts. Planning is already underway to host events with Sir Nigel Sheinwald, Lord Adonis, Oliver Letwin, Danny Alexander, Kenneth Clarke, and Tony Blair in 2013. MEG is seeking sponsorship for two years at a cost of £20,000 per year. This would contribute towards the operating and hospitality costs for MEG’s continued programme of seminar, networking and dinner events. The relationships with this organisation allows for high level interaction with a number of the City Corporation’s key audiences and also allows the City Corporation to engage with a leading London academic institution extending our network in this area and providing us with new opportunities which might not have been available before. In return for sponsorship the City Corporation would receive due recognition on printed literature and online, the opportunity for the Chairman to speak at relevant events, and invitations to all MEG events for Members of the Policy and Resources Committee. Recommendations The Committee is recommended to agree to support the Mile End Group (MEG) for two years, 2012/13 and 2013/14, at a cost of £20,000 per year to be met from your Committee’s Contingency for 2012/13 and Policy Initiatives Fund for 2013/14, charged to City’s Cash and categorised under the Research section of the Fund. Main Report

Background 1. The Mile End Group (MEG) is the Queen Mary, University of London’s (QMUL) forum for government and politics and was created in December 2003 by research students of Peter Hennessy, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History, at QMUL. QMUL is one of the UK’s leading higher education institutions and a member of the Russell Group (UK’s 24 leading research intensive universities). The university is based in Mile End, Tower Hamlets.

2. In 2012, the now Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield became Patron of the MEG and Dr Jon Davis, a founder-member and Executive Director since its creation, was appointed Director. It has an Advisory Board containing Lord Hennessy, Lord Adonis (previously Secretary of State for Transport), Sir Mark Allen (served in British Foreign Service for 30 years), Baroness Shephard of Northwold (previously Secretary of State for Education), Sir Kevin Tebbit (former Permenant Secretary at the Ministry of Defence and UK Chairman of the Italian defence manufacturers Finmeccanica) and William Keegan (The Observer’s senior economics commentator). The Board is chaired by the Principal of Queen Mary, Professor Simon Gaskell.

3. The MEG is a formidable network of academics who are joined by politicians past and present, civil servants, journalists and business-people who come together on average once a month to attend lectures, receptions and dinners to hear and talk to VIPs from the world of government. The MEG co-operates with a number of institutes and think tanks and has partnerships and links to the Attlee Foundation, the British Academy, the Cabinet Office, Churchill College Cambridge, Corpus Christi College Cambridge, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the Ministry of Defence, the National Archives, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Royal Society, the Royal United Services Institute, the Science Museum, the Treasury, and the Young Foundation.

4. The MEG has hosted high-profile guests over the past nine years including Ed Balls MP, Alastair Campbell, Sir John Major, Lord Mandelson, Baroness Manningham-Buller, Andrew Marr, Lord O’Donnell, Sir David Omand, Jeremy Paxman and David Willetts. The involvement of such noted speakers has served to widen the appeal of MEG events, and attendees include those from academia, business, government and journalism. Many students also attend, making the group a truly intergenerational forum for the exchange of ideas and experience. MEG events are open to all and free to attend.

5. From 2004, the IT firm EDS began sponsoring MEG events. This continued when it was bought by the computer giants Hewlett Packard. This sponsorship has allowed the MEG to flourish and now provides for student bursaries and internships.

6. In addition to events, MEG has produced a number of publications. In 2005, the Mile End Institute (for the Study of Government, Intelligence and Society) was created and in 2007 jointly-published two books, The New Protective State and Cabinets and the Bomb. In 2012, the MEG was asked to help re-write the biographies of the Prime Ministers since 1945 for the No. 10 website.

Proposals 7. MEG is seeking sponsorship for two years at a cost of £20,000 per year. This would contribute towards the operating and hospitality costs for MEG’s continued programme of seminar, networking and dinner events. Arrangements are already in place for an event with Sir Nigel Sheinwald on What the 2012 US election will mean for the UK and Lord Adonis talking about his new book Education, Education, Education. MEG are also in the process of arranging events with Oliver Letwin and Danny Alexander on Coalition policy-making, Kenneth Clarke on Being Chancellor and Tony Blair on Global governance. It is also discussing a project with Sir Nick Macpherson on a history of the Treasury which would include a series of events.

8. In return for sponsorship the City Corporation would receive due recognition on printed literature and online, the opportunity for the Chairman to speak at relevant events, and invitations to all MEG events for Members of the Policy and Resources Committee.

9. The work of the MEG accords well with the role of the City Corporation in promoting debate on key policy issues that affect the City and London. The relationships with this organisation allows for high level interaction with a number of the City Corporation’s key audiences and its work will link well with key elements of The City Together Strategy: The Heart of a World Class City 2008-2014. The City Corporation is also able to engage more easily with key audiences, through attending events, that would prove more difficult and time consuming to achieve without these links. It also allows the City Corporation to engage with a leading London academic institution extending our network in this area and providing us with new opportunities which might not have been available before. It also accords well with the City Corporation’s new communications priority, supporting London’s communities, with MEG based at the Queen Mary hospital in neighbouring Tower Hamlets.

10. This report recommends that the City Corporation sponsors MEG for two years at a cost of £20,000 per year to be met from your Committee’s Contingency for 2012/13 and Policy Initiatives Fund for 2013/14 categorised under the Research section of the Fund and charged to City’s Cash.

Implications 11. There is no possibility of meeting the proposed financial support from existing local risk resources. The Policy Initiatives Fund 2012/13 is now fully committed. It is therefore proposed that the required funding for MEG of £20,000 per year for two years is drawn from your Committee Contingency for 2012/13 and Policy Initiatives Fund for 2013/14, categorised under the Research section of the Fund and charged to City’s Cash.

The current uncommitted balances available within your Committee’s Contingency for 2012/13 amounts to some £445,000 and for the Policy Initiatives Fund 2013/14 some £575,000, prior to any allowances being made for any other proposals on today’s agenda.

Conclusion 12. The work of the MEG accords well with the role of the City Corporation in promoting debate on key policy issues that affect the City and London. The relationships with this organisation allows for high level interaction with a number of the City Corporation’s key audiences and its work will link well with key elements of The City Together Strategy: The Heart of a World Class City 2008-2014. The City Corporation is also able to engage more easily with key audiences, through attending events, that would prove more difficult and time consuming to achieve without these links. It also allows the City Corporation to engage with a leading London academic institution extending our network in this area and providing us with new opportunities which might not have been available before. It also accords well with the City Corporation’s new communications priority, supporting London’s communities, with MEG based at the Queen Mary campus in neighbouring borough, Tower Hamlets.

Contact: Tony Halmos Director of Public Relations 020 7332 1450 [email protected]