Ditchley Foundation

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Ditchley House (side view).

The Ditchley Foundation is a British organisation based at Ditchley House near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, which aims to promote international relations, especially Anglo-American relations, through a program of around fifteen annual conferences on matters of international interest. The foundation was incorporated in 1958 by Sir David Wills, descendant of the tobacco importing family, W. D. & H. O. Wills of Bristol.

At each conference, around forty invitees are drawn from senior levels of politics, business, the armed forces, media, and academia, with roughly a third of guests being American, a further third being British, with the remainder being of other nationalities. The director of the Foundation is usually a retired ambassador - the current director is Jeremy Greenstock, former British Ambassador to the United Nations.

Discussion begins with all members present, before participants divide into three sub-groups, each having its own chairman and rapporteur to summarise proceedings. Proceedings end with one more conference-wide session. Like the similar Bilderberg meetings, discussions are private and non-attributable.

A corresponding American Ditchley Foundation helps to shape the conference program as well as select American participants.

1 Notable members
- 1.1 Current Governors
2 References
3 American Members
4 External links

[edit] Notable members

John Major - the former British Prime Minister, is the current chairman of the Ditchley Foundation. Its first chairman, in 1958, was the British historian Sir John Wheeler-Bennett.

Sir Reginald Hibbert - Director 1982-87^[1]

Sir Philip Adams - Director 1977-82^[2]

[edit] Current Governors

Lord Adonis. Minister for Children, Schools and Families.
Giuliano Amato. Formerly Prime Minister of Italy.
Margaret Beckett. Formerly Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
Paul Boateng. British High Commissioner to the Republic of South Africa.
Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, JP. Formerly Secretary of State for Health and for National Heritage.
John Brademas. Formerly Chairman, The American Ditchley Foundation. President Emeritus, New York University. Formerly Democrat Congressman for Indiana.
John Bruton. Former Irish Taoiseach.
Robin Butler, GCB, CVO. Master, University College, Oxford. Formerly Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Home Civil Service.
David Cameron, MP. Conservative Member of Parliament for Witney and Leader of the Opposition.
Menzies Campbell, CBE, QC, MP. Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Fife North East and formerly Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party.
Peter Carrington, KG, GCMG, CH, MC. Formerly Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Secretary-General of NATO.
Shami Chakrabarti, CBE. Director of Liberty.
Lynda Chalker. Formerly Minister for Overseas Development.
Robert Cooper. Director General, Council of the European Union.
David Hennessy. Formerly Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords; Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford.
Geoffrey Howe. Formerly Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
David Hunt. Formerly Secretary of the Cabinet and formerly Chairman, The Ditchley Foundation.
Douglas Hurd. Formerly Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
François Lagrange. Chairman, National Commission for Privatisation and President of the Patent Office, France.
Roy MacLaren. Formerly Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Minister of Trade.
Neil Kinnock. Chairman, The British Council. Formerly Vice President of the European Commission.
Peter Mandelson. Commissioner for External Trade, European Commission. Formerly Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
John Major. Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
David Miliband. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Labour Member of Parliament for South Shields.
Patrick Nairne. Formerly Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Security and Master, St. Catherine’s College, Oxford.
Pauline Neville-Jones. Formerly Shadow Security Minister and National Security Advisor to the Leader of the Opposition, Governor of the BBC and Political Director, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Martin O’Neill. Formerly Member of Parliament for Ochil.
Malcolm Rifkind. Conservative Member of Parliament for Kensington and Chelsea. Formerly Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
Jack Straw. Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. Formerly Leader of the House of Commons, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; Home Secretary.
Elizabeth Symons. Formerly Minister of Defence Procurement, Minister of State for International Trade and Investment, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Kevin Tebbit. Formerly Permanent Under-Secretary, Ministry of Defence.
David Willetts. Conservative Member of Parliament for Havant and Shadow Secretary for Innovation Universities and Skills.
Shirley Williams. Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party in the House of Lords and Public Service Professor, Kennedy School of Government. Director, Project Liberty, Harvard University. Formerly Secretary of State for Education and Science.