Tony Blair and Nick Clegg hosted dinner giving tech bosses entry to UK minister

[ad_1] Tony Blair and Nick Clegg hosted a personal dinner earlier this 12 months at which a choose group of know-how entrepreneurs got entry to a key minister, official paperwork have revealed.

The previous prime minister, who's a champion of the tech business, held the dinner in an upmarket London resort in his capability as the top of the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) political consultancy.

He and Clegg, the previous deputy prime minister who on the time was a senior government at Meta, invited leaders of six tech corporations to dine with Poppy Gustafsson, who was the federal government’s funding minister liable for persuading companies to spend money on Britain.

Blair is an evangelical proponent of the revolutionary potential of know-how to rework faltering public companies and has lengthy courted alliances with leaders within the business. His consultancy has echoed a lot of this zeal by a stream of coverage papers arguing that synthetic intelligence ought to be put on the coronary heart of presidency.

Nonetheless, critics are involved that Blair, who is understood to be near Keir Starmer’s authorities, has been capable of set the agenda with out sufficient public scrutiny. There have additionally been questions over the reliance of Blair’s consultancy on donations from the Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison, a good friend of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Ellison, who this 12 months briefly grew to become the world’s richest individual, has donated or promised greater than $300m to Blair’s consultancy.

The paperwork launched to the Guardian beneath freedom of data laws present how the 12 diners mentioned the federal government’s evolving insurance policies on synthetic intelligence at what was described a “salon dinner”.

<figure id="543efdbd-cfbc-492f-84c5-f571e11972a8" class="element element-interactive element--inline element-inline dcr-w422y2" data-alt="Do you have information about this story? Email henry.dyer@theguardian.com, or (using a non-work phone) use Signal or WhatsApp to message +44 7721 857348. For the most secure communications see theguardian.com/tips" data-testid="interactive-element-Do%20you%20have%20information%20about%20this%20story?%20Email%20henry.dyer@theguardian.com,%20or%20(using%20a%20non-work%20phone)%20use%20Signal%20or%20WhatsApp%20to%20message%20+44%207721%20857348.%20For%20the%20most%20secure%20communications%20see%20theguardian.com/tips" data-spacefinder-role="inline">Do you have got details about this story? E mail henry.dyer@theguardian.com, or (utilizing a non-work telephone) use Sign or WhatsApp to message +44 7721 857348. For probably the most safe communications see theguardian.com/ideas Hosted on the finish of January within the five-star Corinthia resort, the diners included Lonne Jaffe, the managing director of the US enterprise capital agency Perception Companions, which invests in know-how corporations.

Additionally current had been Alex Kendall, the chief government of Wayve, which is looking for to develop self-driving vehicles; Nigel Toon, the top of Graphcore, which produces laptop chips; and Marc Warner, the chief government of College AI, which revealed a joint doc final 12 months with TBI on how AI may very well be used to enhance public companies.

A spokesperson for Clegg, who as president for world affairs at Meta collectively hosted the dinner, mentioned :“Throughout his time at Meta Nick Clegg frequently met with authorities ministers and leaders from different tech corporations. As the chief liable for coverage and world affairs that was actually his job.”

A TBI spokesperson mentioned: “This occasion was a dialogue a couple of vary of points between tech leaders with a minister in attendance. No firm paid to attend.”

The businesses represented on the dinner mentioned that they had not donated cash to TBI, nor employed it.

The dinner illustrates how Blair’s consultancy works to push his pro-technology agenda. Having quickly expanded, TBI is lively in 45 international locations with its workers numbering greater than 900. Its newest accounts present its revenue totalled $145m in 2022 from a combination of charges for its recommendation and donations. The identities of a lot of its donors and purchasers are saved secret.

The consultancy has drawn criticism that its coverage positions have been formed by its donors’ industrial pursuits – an accusation it has denied. It was additionally criticised for persevering with to take cash from Saudi Arabia after the homicide of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Blair is in line to play a number one position within the reconstruction of postwar Gaza.

Weeks earlier than the dinner, the federal government had given TBI a confidential abstract of its motion plan for synthetic intelligence days earlier than it was because of be revealed. On 9 January, Feryal Clark, then a minister within the Division for Science, Innovation and Know-how (DSIT), spoke to Jakob Mokander, TBI’s science coverage director, at her instigation.

The following day, an aide to Clark emailed Mokander to say: “It was nice speaking to you yesterday. As a follow-up please see this confidential abstract of the motion plan. Thanks for agreeing to amplify publication of the plan on Monday by your community and supportive quotes.” Mokander replied: “Thanks for sharing the motion plan (confidentiality famous).” Blair backed the motion plan, aimed toward increasing the nation’s position in creating and deploying synthetic intelligence, when it was revealed on 13 January.

Requested why it had given early sight of this doc to TBI, a spokesperson for the DSIT mentioned: “We make no apologies for frequently partaking with stakeholders. It's commonplace observe to share embargoed info with them forward of bulletins.”

The TBI spokesperson mentioned: “It's commonplace observe for governments to seek the advice of specialists and interact a variety of stakeholders when shaping coverage. The AI alternatives motion plan rightly drew on our revealed work, because the footnotes clarify.”

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