British Council

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Group.png British Council   WebsiteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
British Council logo.svg
Formation1934
FounderEU-United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
Headquarters550px-Palace of Westminster, London - Feb 2007.jpg London, EU-United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
Type Cultural Institution
Member ofEuropean Policy Centre
Sponsor of Institute for Strategic Dialogue
SubpageBritish Council/Transatlantic Network 2020
The British government's cultural propaganda body.

The British Council is a British organisation specialising in getting in contact with and recruiting young leaders in foreign countries through "cultural activities".

History

It was founded in 1934 as the British Committee for Relations with Other Countries, the British Council was inspired by Rex Leeper's recognition of the importance of "cultural propaganda" in promoting Britain.

The Council used to carry a discussion of the its own history on its website which states:

The British Council was founded as an organ of international propaganda. During the late 1920s an influential group of civil servants became convinced that ‘British’ values of parliamentary democracy could be subsumed by the rising tide of fascism. Their response was the British Committee for Relations with Other Countries, which became the British Council. Particular Council initiatives included the teaching of English, but political messages always came along with the language tuition[1]

Official narrative

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We uniquely combine the UK's deep expertise in arts and culture, education and the English language, our global presence and relationships in over 100 countries, our unparalleled access to young people, creatives and educators, and our own creative sparkle.[2]

Espionage and soft power instrument

According to a 2025 assessment by Russia's intelligence agency FSB, the Council is a soft power and spying tool disguised as cultural outreach[3]. Activities include

  • targeting youth leaders and elites to try and sway them to support Western and British interests.
  • spying, from informal monitoring of the socio-economic situation inside Russia to military intel gathering in the conflict zone in Ukraine
  • recruiting staff at top Russian universities in at least four regions to spread propaganda to young people
  • targeting Russians living abroad in influence ops, in the hopes that they will return home and influence policy once the Ukraine conflict ends
  • collecting socio-economic and military intelligence on Kherson region using UK-based refugees

The FSB concluded that:

We would like to address partners from countries friendly to Russia: by flirting with the British and creating favorable conditions for organizations like the British Council, allowing it to work with youth, future leaders and politicians, such countries risk losing control over very important socio-political processes. Therefore, we recommend that you carefully look into the work of the British Council in your countries and, notwithstanding pressures from London, mitigate the negative consequences of its work at an early stage.[4]

Past Chairs

Past Chairs of the British Council have been:

  • 1934 – 1937 Lord Tyrrell
  • 1937 – 1941 Lord Lloyd
  • 1941 – 1945 Sir Malcolm Robertson
  • 1946 – 1955 Sir Ronald Adam
  • 1955 – 1959 Sir David Kelly
  • 1959 – 1967 Lord Bridges
  • 1968 – 1971 Lord Fulton
  • 1971 – 1972 Sir Leslie Rowan
  • 1972 – 1976 Lord Ballantrae
  • 1977 – 1984 Sir Charles Troughton
  • 1985 – 1992 Sir David Orr
  • 1992 – 1998 Sir Martin Jacomb
  • 1998 – 2004 Helena Kennedy
  • 2004 – 2009 Lord Kinnock
  • 2010 – 2016 Sir Vernon Ellis
  • 2016 – 2019 Christopher Rodrigues
  • 2019 to present Stevie Spring

Initiatives

Among the initiatives conceived by the British Council is the Connecting Futures programme.

The British Council also has its detractors and is seen in some quarters as being one of the least accountable public bodies in the United Kingdom. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee is amongst recent critics.[5]

Business partners

Referred to as 'clients' on the British council website

Accenture | Air India Ltd | Allied Domecq plc | Anglo American plc | Alsop Architects Ltd Arup | AstraZeneca plc | BAE Systems plc | Balfour Beatty | Barbican Centre | Barclays Group plc | BG plc Binnie Black & Veatch Ltd | Bloomberg LP | Bovis Lend Lease plc | BP plc | British Airways plc | British Sky Broadcasting Group plc | BT Group plc | Cable & Wireless plc | Cadbury Schweppes plc | Cambridge University Press | Cox & Kings Travel Ltd | Daimler Chrysler | Davis Langdon & Everest | Deutsche Bank | DHL International Diageo plc | EMI Group | Ericsson Ltd | Ernst and Young | Eurostar Group | Foster Wheeler Group | GKN plc | GlaxoSmithKline plc | Halcrow Group | Hilton International Hotels | HSBC Holdings plc | Hyder Consulting | IBM | ICI plc | J C Bamford Excavators Ltd | Jaguar Ltd (Ford) | KLM | Royal Dutch Airlines | KPMG | Kvaerner Group plc | Lloyds TSB | London Stock Exchange | MacMillan Publishing Ltd | Marconi Corporation plc | Marks and Spencer plc | Marriot Hotels and Catering | MG Rover Group Ltd | Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Group | Motorola Ltd | Mott MacDonald Group Ltd | NM Rothschild and Sons Ltd | Nortel plc | Northern Electric plc | Oberoi Hotels | Oxford University Press | Pearson plc | Pirelli plc | PowerGen plc | Pricewaterhouse Coopers | Prudential plc | Renault | Reuters Holdings plc | Rio Tinto plc | Rolls-Royce plc | Ronald Joyce | Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group plc | Shell Group of Companies | Sheraton Hotels | STA Travel | Standard Chartered plc | Thames Water plc | The Telegraph plc | TRW Automotive Systems Ltd | University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate | Virgin Group | Visa International | Vodafone plc | Volkswagen AG | Xerox[6]

People

Affiliations


 

Employee on Wikispooks

EmployeeJobAppointedEnd
Martin DavidsonCEOApril 2007December 2014
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References