By Lucas Amin, Peter Geoghegan, May Bulman and Riccardo Coluccini
Tony Blair’s think tank has been accused of running a scheme that “looks and smells like cash for access” after our investigation found that his institute is offering companies “networking” opportunities with politicians and policy makers at party conferences for an annual fee starting at $25,000.
The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a group set up by the former UK prime minister, is a self-declared “mission-driven not-for-profit organisation” helping to “deliver change” through its assistance to governments around the world.
But internal documents seen by Democracy for Sale and Lighthouse Reports show that TBI offers corporate members of its ‘Global Network for Change’ (GNC) a suite of paid-for services including “networking” at “selected policy moments such as UK Party Conference programming.”
TBI also offers companies – including crypto outfit Coinbase, BP, Uber and Amazon – “a more active role in selected policy programmes” and says it can “give your business a greater role in shaping and informing the debates most relevant to you”.
Dr Sue Hawley, executive director of Spotlight on Corruption told us “this looks and smells like a cash for access scheme with TBI able to trade on its unparalleled access and influence with those in government to facilitate opaque corporate lobbying.”
A former staff member of TBI said they had serious concerns that the paid-for corporate network was “very much trading money for access”, but was instructed by a colleague not to describe it that way.
“They were saying you have to be really careful not to make it seem as if they’re paying money for access,” the former staff member said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
While TBI has responded that it has not broken any rules and said it does not lobby on behalf of GNC members, Britain’s lobbying rules have been criticised for being too narrow, and failing to cover informal meetings between ministers and businesses.
Earlier this year the government’s new Ethics and Integrity commission published a report on lobbying recommending that meetings at party conferences be included in official government transparency releases.
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Blair set up TBI in 2016. It has since grown into a sprawling non-profit group advising more than 45 governments worldwide, with over 700 staff and turnover of $161m in its last set of accounts for 2024.
TBI says on its website that the Global Network for Change “brings together leaders from government, business and beyond to turn ideas into action”. It says: “As a member you’ll connect with influential changemakers, access global insights and take part in curated discussions.”
However TBI has never publicly disclosed the members of the network, its fees or the suite of benefits they receive.
Internal documents reveal that the corporate members include AstraZeneca, Microsoft, and Octopus Energy. They also show that TBI charges $25,000 a year for “associate membership” with bigger undisclosed fees for higher tiers of membership.
Blair’s think tank has events at this year’s Lib Dem, Tory and Labour conferences. At Labour conference, TBI will host 21 events — more than major left-wing rivals such as IPPR, Demos and ThinkLabour.
Some 14 ministers will speak at TBI events including home secretary Shabana Mahmood, EU minister Hamish Falconer and Labour chair Bridget Phillipson.
Ahead of Sunday’s conference opening, TBI’s senior director of policy Ryan Wain celebrated having “more serving cabinet ministers than we’ve ever hosted,” and described the institute’s venue as a place where “people with power, meet people with ideas.”
Some of the companies that the documents show as belonging to the GNC are set to speak alongside TBI staff and the ministers who oversee their businesses at the Labour conference:
The president of AI cloud computing firm ServiceNow, which has won several defence contracts, is billed to introduce a conversation with defence secretary Wes Streeting.
At a TBI- hosted panel called “Driving the Future,” Uber’s UK policy director will discuss self-driving cars with panellists including roads minister Justin Madders.
An executive from investment firm General Catalyst, an investor in the prediction market app Polymarket, will join the chief secretary to the treasury Emma Reynolds at a TBI discussion on “unleashing the animal spirits in Britain’s economy”.
In each case, TBI makes clear these events are “supported” by the companies but does not mention their network membership.
Responding to this story, TBI said that its activities did not involve “anything improper or contrary to rules”.
“In operating the Global Network for Change (GNC), TBI is no different to any other organisation that has sponsorship for events to cover their costs. TBI has a rigorous independence policy with all GNC members and the sponsors of events,” TBI said. It did not respond to questions about how much money the network had generated.
A former staffer told us that they believed that TBI was “trying to peddle influence for wealthy donors.”
Last year, a Democracy for Sale and Lighthouse Reports investigation found that TBI had shifted to tech lobbying and was heavily influenced by hundreds of millions in funding from Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison.
While not unlawful, informal lobbying at party conference has attracted attention. The Ethics and Integrity Commission, an advisory public body that reports to prime minister Andy Burnham, published a lobbying review in July which called for greater disclosure of informal meetings at conferences.
“Government transparency releases should include details of interactive dialogue through non-corporate communication channels, such as WhatsApp and informal meetings, such as those that take place at party conferences,” it said.
Ian Blackford, a former Scottish National Party MP who sits on the commission, told Democracy for Sale “the fact that this goes on under the radar, that greatly raises suspicion ... When you have people paying for access like this, simply it’s wrong.”
He said he had no problem with sponsored conference fringe events but that there needed to be greater disclosure.
Blackford added: “I think it is the case that the TBI is finding ways to grant access for corporates to ministers and have been well rewarded as a consequence of that. What we’ve asked for is a database that can reflect meetings that take place with ministers.”
The documents show other companies in the TBI network include Bridgepoint — an investment company chaired by former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn — and Coinbase, a crypto firm founded by a Trump donor who now advises the US President on technology, and is reportedly seeking to take over three oil fields in Venezuela. Coinbase told us it “engages with policymakers transparently.”
TBI network members also include Netafim, an Israeli ‘drip irrigation’ company accused by the UN of “perfecting age-old techniques of colonial exploitation” in Palestine. The company “has enabled intensive exploitation of water and land in the West Bank…depleting Palestinian natural resources” according to a 2025 report by Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Palestine.
In response to a detailed series of questions, TBI said that it is “an impartial and nonpartisan not-for-profit organisation, which presents its own views and does not engage in any lobbying on behalf of GNC members or others, nor are we asked to by them.”
TBI said its GNC membership scheme complied with all rules and guidance and said its events around party conferences were comparable to many other think tanks hosting fringe events at conferences to have policy discussions.
“Membership of the GNC allows members to support the work that TBI does in helping leaders and governments around the world to deliver better outcomes for their people. We are proud of our partnerships with GNC members and we publicly advertise its existence on our website.”
The Labour Party did not respond to a request for comment. We also approached Microsoft, Uber, ServiceNow, General Catalyst, BP, AstraZeneca, Netafim, Bridgepoint and Amazon for comment. None had responded at the time of publication.
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This is totally unacceptable. Politicians should not be giving privileged access for money, prostituting themselves for pimps like the Tony Blair Institute.
I hate to tell you but this is standard corporate marketing. It stinks. Everyone knows it stinks. But they keep writing the cheques. No different to ‘breakfast with Nigel’ at ‘however much they think you’ll pay.’ $25k is a rounding error for most enterprises. They’ll drop that on a decent meal for 10 at Petrus. Doesn’t make it any less sleazy but it is so common I’m surprised it makes any headlines. Back in the day, some firms I worked alongside charged $10-20K just to see their products. Non-refundable/non-redeemable. Go figure!!