Legatum Institute

Background

The Legatum Institute (LI) was founded in 2007 by the Legatum Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dubai-based investment firm the Legatum Group.¹ According to financial disclosures, in 2014 the Legatum Institute transferred activities from the Legatum Institute to the Legatum Institute Foundation, “a fully functioning educational charity and a non-partisan global think tank, focused on researching, understanding and promoting prosperity in its broadest sense.”²

LI press materials describe the Legatum Institute Foundation as an “independent, non-partisan, global think tank” founded in 2009.³

DeSmog reported in January 2024 that the Legatum Institute Foundation had donated £50,000 to the ‘New Conservatives’ group of Tory MPs in December 2023.⁴

In late 2017, the UK‘s charity commission began an investigation into The Legatum Institute Foundation after being “made aware of some concerns reported in the media about the charity’s independence and received complaints that it was political and acting to promote the views of ‘pro-Brexiteers’.” With respect to a specific pro-Brexit report put out by the Legatum Institute’s “Special Trade Commission (STC),” the commission found LI had “crossed a clear line” with the publication, and that it was “not consistent with the requirements associated with the advancement of education for the public benefit.”⁵

The Legatum Institute was run by Baroness Philippa Stroud,⁶ a Conservative politician who vocally supports a hard Brexit.⁷ Baroness Stroud was appointed CEO in 2016,⁸ and stepped down in March 2023.⁹

Former chief of Vote Leave, Matthew Elliott, became a Senior Fellow of the Legatum Institute in 2017. He was also the founder of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, one of the organisations pushing for deregulation and operating out of 55 Tufton Street. Elliott announced he would be leaving the Legatum Institute in May 2018.¹⁰

Also linked to the Legatum Institute is controversial lobbyist Shanker Singham, who worked there for a year before leaving for a role at 55 Tufton Street organisation Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). Singham also has links to US-based climate science denial organisations.¹¹

Stance on Climate Change

December 9, 2015

An article posted on Legatum Institute’s website entitled “Fighting Climate Change with Freedom“ states that:¹²

“Population growth—not capitalism—is the biggest cause of climate change, and the best way to save the planet is to give women more control over their own fertility.”

Funding

According to its website, “The Legatum Institute is part of a global community of organisations founded and supported by Legatum Foundation.”¹³

In December 2017, The Financial Times reported that most of the group’s income — £3.9m of a total of £4.3m — came from the Legatum Foundation Limited as well as an additional 40 donors who it does not disclose.

A joint investigation published by DeSmog and Democracy for Sale revealed that Conservative Party donors had given £6.8 million to Tufton Street think tanks between 2019-2024, £20,000 of which was donated by Conservative Peer Lord Borwick to the Legatum Institute.¹⁴

Koch Funding

According to publicly available 990 tax forms, the Charles Koch Charitable Foundation gave the Legatum Institute a grant of $77,000 in 2018.

Key Documents & Financials

The Legatum Institute Foundation (Company # 07430903)

The Legatum Institute Foundation (Charity No. 1140719)

Key People

Search or view the Legatum Institute’s people below, based on data retrieved from the Internet Archive.
You can also download a spreadsheet of the Legatum Institute’s people year over year (.xslx).

Actions

January 6, 2021

The Legatum Institute’s parent organisation, the Legatum Group, was announced as a leading investor in GB News, a new British television network chaired by Andrew Neil, chairman of The Spectator.¹⁵ GB News describes its intended audience as the “vast number of British people who feel underserved and unheard,” according to The Guardian.¹⁶

July 2018

DeSmog mapped the connections between the Legatum Institute and Shanker Singham, and how this provides privileged access to the UK government in order to push a hard Brexit. Singham’s links to climate science denial are also exposed, as Singham was at one point a policy expert for the US-based Heartland Institute, which has received at least $676,500 from ExxonMobil since 1998.¹⁷

Singham’s connection to the organisations that occupy 55 Tufton Street continues, with Singham meeting Michael Gove in June 2017.¹⁸

Singham’s colleague at the Legatum Institute, Alden Abbott, also has ties to US climate science denial through authoring a report for the Heartland Institute,¹⁹ and his former position as Deputy Director of the Heritage Foundation‘s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.²⁰

The Heritage Foundation sits at the heart of transatlantic network of lobbyists pushing climate science denial and for a hard Brexit, which DeSmog has previously mapped.²¹

February 2018

Representatives from the Legatum Institute were present at “shadow trade talks” with other organisations known for spreading misinformation about Climate Change. The talks were hosted by IFT and intended to mobilise the groups to lobby the British government for their ideal US–UK post-Brexit trade deal.²²

December 2017

Environment Secretary Michael Gove met with the Legatum Institute. This continues the connections DeSmog UK has previously mapped between Brexit lobbyists and climate science denial/free market organisations, since Gove is on the advisory board for The New Culture Forum, one of the organisations of 55 Tufton Street.²³

Along with Boris Johnson and Michael Hintze, who funds the UK’s premier climate science denial campaign group the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), Gove was a member of Liam Fox’s doomed transatlantic think tank, The Atlantic Bridge. The group formed a special partnership with another free-market lobby group, but the group was dissolved in September 2011 following a Charity Commission investigation that found it was engaged in overtly political work, which was against its rules.²⁴

Legatum Institute Foundation | Company number 07430903 | Charity number 1140719

The Legatum Institute Foundation, separate from the Dubai-based group The Legatum Foundation, was set up in 2010 order to advance “education in the charitable sense rather than simply promoting a particular point of view.” The Financial Times reported the Legatum Foundation had “longstanding ties with key Conservative politicians.”²⁵

In 2014, The Legatum Institute transferred activities to the Legatum Institute Foundation.²⁶

The Legatum Foundation

The Legatum Foundation, based in Dubai,²⁷ describes itself as the “development arm” of the Legatum Group, “allocating capital at the bottom of the Prosperity Ladder to projects, people and ideas that create sustainable prosperity.”²⁸

The Legatum Institute website notes that “Our building is provided and our core costs are covered by the generosity of our founders, through the Legatum Foundation.”²⁹

Legatum Institute (Overseas Company, Terminated Summer 2018) | Company number FC028686

An “oversees company” entitled the Legatum Institute has also been listed at Companies House, with a shared UK address at 11 Charles Street. Notably, the group was terminated due to insolvency on June 2018. It is unclear its precise relationship with The Legatum Institute foundation.

Contact & Address

11 Charles Street,³⁰
London, W1J 5DW United Kingdom
T: +44 (0) 207 148 5400 (Switchboard)
E: [email protected]
W3W: range.wisdom.ideas

@LegatumInst on Twitter
Legatum Institute on LinkedIn
Legatum Institute on YouTube

Other Resources

“Legatum Institute,” SourceWatch profile.
“Legatum Institute,” Littlesis profile.

Resources

1
“Londoner’s Diary: Love’s Legatum Lost in battle over Brexit,” Evening Standard, December 8, 2016. Archived January 24, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/GE92d
2
“THE LEGATUM INSTITUTE FOUNDATION Trustees’ Annual Report and financial statements” (PDF), Legatum Institute Foundation, December 31, 2014. Retrieved from charitycommission.gov.uk. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
3
“Baroness Philippa Stroud Appointed as CEO of the Legatum Institute,” Legatum Institute, September 12, 2016. Archived January 24, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/dCSZw
4
Sam Bright. “Conservative Faction Receives £50,000 from GB News Owner,” DeSmog, January 18, 2024.
5
“Decision: Legatum Institute Foundation: case report,” Gov.uk, June 1, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/82YEM
6
“Leadership,” Legatum Institute. Archived January 24, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/GGVvj
7
Cynthia O’Murchu and Henry Mance. “Legatum: the think-tank at intellectual heart of ‘hard’ Brexit,” Financial Times, December 4, 2017. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/v537E
8
“Baroness Philippa Stroud Appointed as CEO of the Legatum Institute,” Legatum Institute, September 12, 2016. Archived January 24, 2018. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/dCSZw
9
“Philippa Claire STROUD,” Gov.uk. Archived August 9, 2023.
10
“Matthew Elliott says farewell to the Legatum Institute,” Legatum Institute, May 11, 2018. Archived January 24, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/qdLZh
11
“Leadership,” Legatum Institute. Archived September 15, 2017. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/naogM
12
“Fighting Climate Change with Freedom,” Legatum Institute, December 9, 2015. Archived January 23, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/T8B82
13
“How We Are Funded,” Legatum Institute. Archived January 23, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/Eacrb
14
Peter Geoghegan, Lucas Amin and Sam Bright. “Tory Donors Have Pumped Almost £7 Million into Tufton Street Since 2019,” DeSmog, June 13, 2024.
15
“Investors give go-ahead for GB News,” Legatum, January 6, 2021. Archived January 11, 2021. Archive.vn URL: https://archive.vn/4zOor
16
Jim Waterson. “Andrew Neil launches 24-hour news network to rival BBC and Sky,” The Guardian, September 25, 2020. Archived January 11, 2021. Archive.vn URL: https://archive.vn/oMYgw
17
Mat Hope and Richard Collett-White. “Mapped: How Brexit Lobbyists Give Climate Science Deniers Privileged Access to the UK Government,” DeSmog, July 3, 2018.
18
Mat Hope and Richard Collett-White. “Mapped: How Brexit Lobbyists Give Climate Science Deniers Privileged Access to the UK Government,” DeSmog, July 3, 2018.
19
“FDA Reform: A Prescription for More and Better Drugs and Medical Devices” (PDF), Legal Memorandum (The Heritage Foundation publication) No. 182 (June 20 2016. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
20
“Alden Abbott,” Heritage Foundation. Archived January 24, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/5cO9s
21
Mat Hope and Richard Collett-White. “Mapped: How Brexit Lobbyists Give Climate Science Deniers Privileged Access to the UK Government,” DeSmog, July 3, 2018.
22
Mat Hope. “Trans-Atlantic Network of Hard Brexit Climate Science Deniers Plotting ‘Shadow’ US-UK Trade Talks,” DeSmog, February 18, 2018.
23
Mat Hope and Richard Collett-White. “Mapped: How Brexit Lobbyists Give Climate Science Deniers Privileged Access to the UK Government,” DeSmog, July 3, 2018.
24
Graham Readfearn. “Michael Hintze revealed as funder of Lord Lawson’s climate thinktank,” The Guardian, March 27, 2012. Archived January 8, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/uKrgA
25
Cynthia O’Murchu and Henry Mance. “Legatum: the think-tank at intellectual heart of ‘hard’ Brexit,” Financial Times, December 4, 2017. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/v537E
26
“THE LEGATUM INSTITUTE FOUNDATION Trustees’ Annual Report and financial statements” (PDF), Legatum Institute Foundation, December 31, 2014. Retrieved from charitycommission.gov.uk. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
27
“Our Offices,” Legatum Foundation. Archived January 24, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/74oiT
28
“Who We Are,” Legatum Foundation. Archived January 24, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/hslo8
29
“SUPPORT US,” Legatum Institute. Archived January 24, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/84ds6
30
“How We Are Funded,” Legatum Institute. Archived January 23, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/Eacrb

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