Sarah Elliott

Credentials

B.A. International Affairs with a Concentration in Spanish, University of Mary Washington.¹

Background

Sarah Elliott is the chairwoman of Republicans Overseas UK, a political organisation which aims to support and represent the interests of American citizens living in the UK and encourage wider participation in the US federal elections, according to its website.² ³

An American citizen, Elliott has lived in the UK since 2014 and previously had a career in Washington DC “advocating for Republican values,” as well as a brief spell with the Republican National Committee as a public affairs field manager.⁴ ⁵

Elliott has repeatedly spoken favourably of US President Donald Trump, praising his “policy of getting government out of the way of business” and his tax cuts. She said she was “honoured” to welcome him for his state visit to the UK in July 2018, adding he had “great support here in the UK.”⁶ ⁷ ⁸

Elliott has been an outspoken Brexit supporter, calling it “an opportunity for the UK to do business with the rest of the world.”⁹ ¹⁰

She has called for the UK to use its “special relationship” with the US to sign a free trade deal with Donald Trump’s America.¹¹

Elliott is married to Matthew Elliott, the former chief executive of Vote Leave, co-founder of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, former senior research fellow at the Legatum Institute and editor-at-large of Brexit Central.¹²

On the Republicans Overseas UK’s website, Elliott is described as “living out the special relationship everyday as she is married to an Englishman.”¹³

Elliott previously worked for the Republican National Committee’s major donor program.¹⁴

Between July 2014 and July 2018, she was the managing director of the London-based American European Business Association (AEBA), which aims to “improve and increase understanding and cooperation between the business community and governments in Europe and North America,” according to its website.¹⁵ ¹⁶ ¹⁷

Describing her job at the AEBA to the Conservative Book Club, Elliott said: “I bring together a select group of senior transatlantic executives over lunch to meet with global business leaders in an off-the-record setting 8-10 times a year. The speakers range from ambassadors to the chairman of BAE Systems to the Governor of the Bank of England.”¹⁸

She led fundraising efforts at Americans for Prosperity, a US right-wing libertarian campaign group co-founded by David Koch. Koch is a fossil fuel magnate who co-owns the Koch Industries and is well-known for funding a host of organisations which spread disinformation about climate change. Americans for Prosperity has consistently opposed government regulation on power generation.¹⁹ ²⁰ ²¹

In a book by Jane Mayer entitled “Dark Money: The hidden history of the billionaires behind the rise of the radical right,” Mayer wrote that Americans for Prosperity has been accused by critics of “using the guise of nonprofit status to work, behind a screen of anonymity, on behalf of the Kochs’ corporate and political interests.”²²

Elliott also worked as the manager of political research at the Americans for Tax Reform advocacy group, which according to the group’s website, “opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle.”²³ ²⁴

Stance on Climate Change

Although Elliott has not publicly expressed a position on climate change, some of the organisations for which she has worked have a history of spreading doubt on climate science and opposing efforts to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

Americans for Prosperity

In an introduction to a video called “Climate Change Gets the Cold Shoulder,” uploaded in December 2015 during the UN COP21 negotiations which led to the signing of the Paris Agreement, Americans For Prosperity wrote:²⁵

“Environmentalists are frustrated. They’ve worked so hard, for so long, to get the United States on board with a binding international climate treaty. So far every attempt has failed, in large part because the American public is just not convinced.²⁶

“The main problem with alarmist propaganda of the last two decades is that they can only cry wolf so many times before the public begins to doubt the story.”²⁷

The video has now been removed from the group’s website and YouTube.

Americans for Tax Reform

The group has repeatedly opposed a carbon tax and previously denied the global climate consensus, arguing that the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was now causing a ”new ice age.”²⁸ ²⁹

During a July 2018 press conference in response to a proposed carbon tax bill put forward by Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo, the group’s founder and president, Grover Norquist, said:³⁰

“I’m old enough to remember global cooling… All of the stuff about why isn’t important. It’s just that they want more money again.”³¹

Key Quotes

June 28, 2018

Elliott tweeted her support for Donald Trump’s visit to the UK and a post-Brexit free trade deal between the two countries:³²

“Trump’s visit is critical to securing a successful trading relationship for the UK after Brexit. He wants to do business with the UK – Does the UK want to do business with the US? #FreeTrade #TrumpUKVisit #specialrelationship.”³³