The article talks a lot about the influence of Oracle’s Larry Ellison:
>Since 2021, Ellison’s personal foundation – the Larry Ellison Foundation – has donated or pledged at least £257m to the Tony Blair Institute, making it a think tank like no other in the UK. Ellison donations have helped it grow to more than 900 staff, working in at least 45 countries. It enjoys US levels of funding and influence, so while UK counterparts such as Policy Exchange and the Institute of Public Policy Research had incomes of £4.3m in 2023-24, TBI’s turnover in 2023 was $145.3m. The institute has insisted that Ellison is just one among many major funders and its chief policy strategist, Benedict Macon-Cooney, told media that there was “no conflict of interest, and donations are ringfenced”.
>Blair himself takes no salary from TBI. In recent years it has been able to recruit from blue-chip firms such as the consulting giant McKinsey and the Facebook owner, Meta. In 2018, before the Oracle founder’s funding surge, TBI’s best-paid director earned $400,000. In 2023, the last year that accounts are available for, the top earner took home $1.26m.
>Some TBI staff – including a number who left in recent years because of Ellison’s influence – say the cash injection has produced a culture that is dominated by a form of AI boosterism, and which, as they see it, amounts to lobbying for Oracle.
There’s also quite a bit in there about the TBI’s lobbying around NHS health data, including creating a gateway to it which private actors could access, as well as Blair himself talking with Starmer adviser Peter Kyle.
>The TBI, however, was welcomed by Keir Starmer’s Downing Street operation, which includes many figures with close connections to the former prime minister. Peter Kyle, an adviser in Blair’s second term, was appointed technology secretary and called on governments to show “a sense of humility” towards Big Tech companies.
>TBI had been laying the groundwork before Labour won power. Institute staff advised the party in opposition. In May 2024, TBI wrote a report that called for “two radical actions” to fix Britain’s “data-access problem”: create a “single front door” providing “seamless access” to NHS data; and host all of this data outside the NHS, while retaining government control of the programme.
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The article talks a lot about the influence of Oracle’s Larry Ellison:
>Since 2021, Ellison’s personal foundation – the Larry Ellison Foundation – has donated or pledged at least £257m to the Tony Blair Institute, making it a think tank like no other in the UK. Ellison donations have helped it grow to more than 900 staff, working in at least 45 countries. It enjoys US levels of funding and influence, so while UK counterparts such as Policy Exchange and the Institute of Public Policy Research had incomes of £4.3m in 2023-24, TBI’s turnover in 2023 was $145.3m. The institute has insisted that Ellison is just one among many major funders and its chief policy strategist, Benedict Macon-Cooney, told media that there was “no conflict of interest, and donations are ringfenced”.
>Blair himself takes no salary from TBI. In recent years it has been able to recruit from blue-chip firms such as the consulting giant McKinsey and the Facebook owner, Meta. In 2018, before the Oracle founder’s funding surge, TBI’s best-paid director earned $400,000. In 2023, the last year that accounts are available for, the top earner took home $1.26m.
>Some TBI staff – including a number who left in recent years because of Ellison’s influence – say the cash injection has produced a culture that is dominated by a form of AI boosterism, and which, as they see it, amounts to lobbying for Oracle.
There’s also quite a bit in there about the TBI’s lobbying around NHS health data, including creating a gateway to it which private actors could access, as well as Blair himself talking with Starmer adviser Peter Kyle.
>The TBI, however, was welcomed by Keir Starmer’s Downing Street operation, which includes many figures with close connections to the former prime minister. Peter Kyle, an adviser in Blair’s second term, was appointed technology secretary and called on governments to show “a sense of humility” towards Big Tech companies.
>TBI had been laying the groundwork before Labour won power. Institute staff advised the party in opposition. In May 2024, TBI wrote a report that called for “two radical actions” to fix Britain’s “data-access problem”: create a “single front door” providing “seamless access” to NHS data; and host all of this data outside the NHS, while retaining government control of the programme.