Global Vision

Global Vision

Background

Global Vision (also known as Global Vision UK) is a Brexit-focused media outlet that provides “an online home” for “all those wanting to follow the next chapter as the UK begins the process of negotiating our future relationship with both the EU and the wider world,” according to its website.1About Us,” Global Vision. Archived August 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/vMZ3P

It brings “specialist coverage for everyone in the UK and beyond who wants to understand and make a success of Brexit,” and for those who advocate Britain’s future as an “independent, free-trading, sovereign nation.” 2About Us,” Global Vision. Archived August 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/vMZ3P

Its website provides “news, analysis, comment and insight”3About Us,” Global Vision. Archived August 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/vMZ3P from Brexit-supporting commentators,.4Our Contributors,” Global Vision. Archived August 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/cqYjJ as well as a weekly email bulletin and video content posted on its YouTube channel5Global Vision UK,” YouTube Channel. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/IGCo7

Global Vision is chaired by former Washington lawyer and lobbyist Shanker Singham6About Us,” Global Vision. Archived August 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/vMZ3P and edited by Rebecca Ryan, who has said that Global Vision will aim to “fill the space” left by BrexitCentral, a Brexit-supporting news outlet edited by former Vote Leave CEO Matthew Elliott, which ceased to operate in January 2020.7Mia Jankowicz. “Leave-supporting website BrexitCentral to shut down,” The New European. January 2, 2020. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/C0k0z

Singham, who has been described by some in the British media as the “Brexiteers’ Brain” is a former international trade lawyer and an influential figure in UK politics.8Alex Spence. “The Definitive Story Of How A Former Washington Lobbyist Became “The Brexiteers’ Brain,” Buzzfeed. May 22, 2018. Archived July 16, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/vGhJi

Since the EU referendum, Singham has worked in senior roles for pro-Brexit, free-market think tanks the Legatum Institute and the Institute of Economic Affairs, and has enjoyed “unparalleled” access to senior Eurosceptic politicians and ministers, including Boris JohnsonMichael GoveSteve BakerLiam Fox and David Davis.9Peter Geoghegan, Jenna Corderoy. “Revealed: New evidence of ‘Hard Brexit svengali’ Shanker Singham’s ‘unparalleled access’ to senior government figures,” Open Democracy. June 14, 2018. Archived July 16, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/GZjAc

Ryan is the Founder of the UK-based news and comment website Free Market Conservatives and the pressure group “StandUp4Brexit.”10Rebecca Ryan,” Global Vision. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/3vnGk

Global Vision contributors include prominent individuals from the UK’s principal climate science denial organisation, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), as well as other figures associated with the network of pro-Brexit, free-market organisations based in and around Westminster’s 55 Tufton Street.11Our Contributors,” Global Vision. Archived August 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/cqYjJ

These include GWPF director12The Global Warming Policy Foundation – Officers,” Companies House. Archived August 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL:  http://archive.fo/uHVCW and trustee Ruth Lea,13Board of Trustees,” Global Warming Policy Foundation. Archived October 30, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.md/mPjWS GWPF advisor Viscount Matt Ridley.14Academic Advisory Council,” Global Warming Policy Foundation. Archived June 30, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/BleyE and Harry Wilkinson, the head of policy for the Global Warming Policy Forum, the GWPF’s campaigning arm.15Who we are,” Global Warming Policy Forum. Archived January 23, 2020. Archive.md URL: http://archive.md/wip/reST5

Several of Global Vision’s contributors have links with the Eurosceptic think tank, Global Vision, established by Ruth Lea and Conservative peer Lord Blackwell in 2007,16Our Vision,” Global Vision. Archived October 24, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/hHPzC 17Economic Advisory Panel,” Global Vision. Archived October 24, 2019. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/bS4nr and based at 55 Tufton Street. Despite sharing a name, it is unclear if they are otherwise related.18“Parliamentary Friends,” Global Vision. Archived February 7, 2012. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/w1gcz

Although the website of the Global Vision think tank is active, it is listed as a “dormant” company by Companies House,19Global Vision for Britain Limited – Company No: 05888291,” Companies House. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/trnGo and its last event, held with former UKIP MEP and climate science denier Roger Helmer, was in 2017.20Events,” Global Vision. Archived August 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/AUW7G

Stance on Climate Change

Global Vision UK has not released any statements on climate change. However, it provides a platform for numerous individuals associated with the Global Warming Policy Foundation, as well as other figures who have expressed and promoted climate science denial.

March 23, 2020

In an article for Global Vision entitled “We musn’t let green lobbyists use coronavirus to turn us back into the ‘sick man of Europe,’” Global Warming Policy Forum head of policy, Harry Wilkinson, criticised attempts to organise a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Wilkinson wrote:

“The Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Dr Fatih Birol, has opportunistically announced that we should ‘put clean energy at the heart of stimulus plans to counter the coronavirus crisis’. Why exactly building new wind turbines would make a sensible stimulus plan compared to other approaches is not explained, suffice to say it is justified on the basis that it will both stimulate the economy and ‘accelerate clean energy transitions’.

“…A sensible stimulus plan should be well-targeted and effective, and I haven’t heard any good reasons why investing in clean energy would be either of these things.

“There is greater reason to believe it would be a most iniquitous strategy. The history of climate change policies, from grants to pay for expensive electric vehicles to green energy subsidies that have primarily benefited large landowners, is one of ordinary people paying the privileged few to feel good about themselves. On what basis are we to think the regressive distributional basis of crony green capitalism has changed?”21Harry Wilkinson. “We mustn’t let green lobbyists use coronavirus to turn us back into the sick man of Europe,” Global Vision. March 23, 2020. Archived August 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/aBD2M

Funding

Funding sources for Global Vision are unknown.

Annual Reports

Global Vision does not appear to have been registered on Companies House.

Key People

Shanker Singham – Chair. Singham is a US lawyer and lobbyist who became an influential figure in UK politics after the EU referendum. He launched Global Vision with Editor Rebecca Ryan in February 2020.22Shanker Singham, “It’s time to seize the opportunities of Brexit and embrace a Global Vision,” Global Vision. February 2, 2020. Archived August 18, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/Sj35A Singham was the director of economic policy and prosperity studies at the Legatum Institute from 2016 before joining the Institute of Economic Affairs in March 2018,23Shanker Singham to head up new Trade Unit at Institute of Economic Affairs,” Institute of Economic Affairs. March 9, 2018. Archived August 12, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/7YRwo where he directed the IEA’s International Trade and Competition Unit and co-authored their controversial post-Brexit “Plan A+” report24Singham et al. “PlanA+: Creating a prosperous post-Brexit UK,” Institute of Economic Affairs. September 21, 2018. Archived August 12, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. before becoming an IEA fellow of trade and competition.25Mat Hope. “Thinktank with Ties to Climate Science Denial Censured by Charity Commission for Hard Brexit Lobbying,” DeSmog. February 6, 2019. 26Fellows and Academic Advisors,” Institute of Economic Affairs. Archived July 16, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/7u3Jw Singham is CEO of his own private international trade consultancy, Competere.27Shanker Singham,” LinkedIn. Archived August 14, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. As recently as 2015, he was listed as an “expert” on a now-deleted webpage of the US-based climate science denying campaign group the Heartland Institute.28Expert Search,” The Heartland Institute. Archived September 12, 2015. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/aJaCG

Rebecca Ryan – Editor.29About Us,” Global Vision. Archived August 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/vMZ3P Ryan is founder of the website and news outlet Free Market Conservatives, which she established in May 2019,.30Rebecca Ryan,” LinkedIn. Archived August 18, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. and founder31Rebecca Ryan,” Global Vision. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/3vnGk of the pro-“hard Brexit” campaign group StandUp4Brexit launched in August 201832Homepage,” StandUp4Brexit. Archived August 18, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/pwZa3 and most notable for its failed bid to organise the ringing of Big Ben to mark the UK’s withdrawal from the EU in January 2020.33Brexit: Big Ben bongs fundraising appeal closes,” BBC News. January 27, 2020. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/wGrc1 Ryan is also campaign director at Defund the BBC, a campaign group run by Glasgow University student, James Yucel,34Steve Anglesey. The Brexiteers behind the ‘Defund the BBC’ campaign,” The New European. July 30, 2020. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/nRStS and which has been championed by former IEA Digital Manager, Darren Grimes. Ryan launched Global Vision with Singham in February 202. 35Rebecca Ryan. Welcome to Global Vision,” Global Vision. February 1, 2020. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/xG2r6

Contributors

Global Vision lists the following individuals as contributors as of August 2020 :

  • Aaron Rankin
  • Adam Morgan
  • Adrian Hill
  • Alastair McMillan
  • Alex Deane
  • Alicia Kearns
  • Alistair Kelman
  • Andrea Jenkyns MP
  • Andrew Rosindell
  • Ben Houchen
  • Brendan Chilton
  • Catherine McBride
  • Damien Phillips
  • Daniel Hodson
  • David Campbell Bannerman
  • Derrick Wilkinson
  • Douglas McWilliams
  • Dr Gerard Lyons
  • Dr Lee Rotheram
  • Edward Sumner
  • Elisabetta Ferri
  • Emily Barley
  • Ethan Thoburn
  • Fawzi Ibrahim
  • Paul Ormerod
  • Harry Phibbs
  • Harry Wilkinson
  • Helen Mayer
  • Hjörtur J. Gudmundsson
  • Hugh Trenchard
  • Jack Sowerby
  • Jack Walters
  • James Sproule
  • Jason Reed
  • Jayne Adye
  • Jennifer Powers
  • John Longworth
  • Jon Moynihan OBE
  • Jonathan De Leyser
  • Joshua Mackenzie-Lawrie
  • Julian Jessop
  • Lance Forman
  • Lars Karlsson
  • Marcus Fysh
  • Mark Wheatley
  • Matt Ridley
  • Matt Smith
  • Matthew Groves
  • Matthew MacKinnon
  • Matthew Patten
  • Owen Paterson
  • Peter Allgeier
  • Pieter Cleppe
  • Prof. David Blake
  • Prof. David Collins
  • Prof. U. Srinivasa Rangan
  • Rebecca Ryan
  • Richard Patient
  • Robert Courts MP
  • Rory Broomfield 
  • Ruth Lea
  • Shabnam Nasimi
  • Shanker Singham
  • Sheryll Murray
  • Sir Bill Cash MP
  • Stefan Garcia
  • Stephen Lynch
  • Stewart Jackson
  • Suella Braverman
  • Suzanne Evans
  • Ted Jeffery
  • Theodore Yarbrough
  • Tim Bowling
  • Tim Dawson
  • Tony Smith
  • Victoria Hewson 36Our Contributors,” Global Vision. Archived August 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/cqYjJ

Actions

June 12, 2020

In an article for Global Vision on the subject of US-UK trade negotiations, former senior economist of the Institute of Economic Affairs’ International Trade and Competition Unit,37Catherine McBride. “Exactly who are they trying to protect,” Global Vision, June 12, 2020. Archived June 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/Bog0C Catherine McBride, claimed that US chickens were farmed in “relatively luxurious” conditions compared to the UK, and said that journalists raising concerns about so-called “chlorinated chicken” were “promoting fear in the section of the UK population who could most benefit from cheaper imported food”. McBride’s web page on Global Vision describes her as an independent economist who has worked for the IEA and the Legatum Institute..38Catherine McBride,” Global Vision. Archived August 17, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/qdIXl

February 1, 2020

In a post to readers to mark the launch of Global Vision, editor Rebecca Ryan welcomed readers and said that the website’s “scope” would be to “cover the next stage of the Brexit negotiations as we establish our nation’s future relationship with both the EU and the wider world.”39Rebecca Ryan. Welcome to Global Vision,” Global Vision. February 1, 2020. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/xG2r6 Ryan stated Global Vision’s position that “the 2016 vote was a positive move” and said the website was “optimistic about Britain’s future as an independent, free-trading, sovereign nation, with a global vision!” She said that Global Vision would “seek to fill the space” left by the prominent pro-Brexit news outlet Brexit Central which shut down in February 2020.40Jonathan Isaby. “Thank you and farewell from BrexitCentral,” Brexit Central. February 1, 2020. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/uHxdE

Contact & Address

As of August 2020, Global Vision was listed at the following address 58Cookie Policy,” Global Vision. Archived August 20, 2020. Archive.fo URL: http://archive.fo/7kHuy:

Global Vision

3rd Floor

86-90 Paul Street

London

EC2A 4NE

Social Media

Other Resources

Resources

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