Wilton Park
 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | January 12, 1946 |
| Headquarters | Wiston House, West Sussex 50°53′59″N 0°21′32″W / 50.899722°N 0.358889°W |
| Parent department | Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office |
| Website | wiltonpark |
Wilton Park is an executive agency of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) providing a global forum for strategic discussion.
Based since 1951 at Wiston House in Sussex, it organises over 50 events a year in the UK and overseas, bringing together leading representatives from the worlds of politics, business, academia, diplomacy, civil society and media.
History
Wilton Park began on 12 January 1946 as part of an initiative inspired by Winston Churchill, who in 1944 called for Britain to help establish a democracy in Germany after the Second World War. It takes its name from the Wilton Park Estate, near Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire: between January 1946 and June 1948 approx 4,500 Germans were made to attend re-education classes there.[1]
In 1991 Wilton Park became an Executive Agency to 'give it more operational autonomy and a more secure financial footing' through the opportunity to raise more of its funding, and it now raises all its running costs.[2]
Contemporary
In 2006 Wilton Park marked its 60th anniversary with a private dinner and a speech delivered by Lord Triesman on future conflicts.[3]
In 2009 Richard Burge, a former head of the Countryside Alliance (1999–2003) and Director General of the Zoological Society of London (1995–1999), took over as Chief Executive.[4] In 2010 Wilton Park held its first conference on cyber security after the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 identified cyber attacks as a major threat to the United Kingdom.[5]
Operations
Meetings provide a neutral environment where conflicting views can be expressed and debated openly and calmly, allowing acceptable compromise and resolution to be achieved. It encourages innovation in global thinking by provoking lively debate and promoting inclusivity among the policy makers and opinion formers. Discussions are non-attributable to encourage frank exchanges and open dialogue.[6]
References
- ^ Arthur Lee Smith (1996). The War for the German Mind: Re-educating Hitler's Soldiers. Berghahn Books. p. 50.
- ^ "Wilton Park history - part two". Wilton Park. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
- ^ Horsley, William (12 January 2006). "Secret retreat marks 60 years of diplomacy". BBC News Online. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
- ^ "Richard David Arthur Burge" (PDF). July 2019. p. 2. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
- ^ "GCHQ's Head of Cyber identifies cyber attacks as one of UK's top threats". Wilton Park. 29 October 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
- ^ Wilton Park
External links
.svg){kind=small} | This article related to government in the United Kingdom or its constituent countries is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |