Policy Exchange is a British conservative think tank based in London. In 2007 it was described in The Daily Telegraph as "the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the right". The Washington Post said Policy Exchange's reports "often inform government policy in Britain." and Iain Dale described it on ConservativeHome as the "pre-eminent think tank in the Westminster village". Policy Exchange is a registered charity.
Founded in 2002, it describes itself as "an independent, non-partisan educational charity whose mission is to develop and promote new policy ideas that will deliver better public services, a stronger society and a more dynamic economy."
The policy ideas developed by the think tank which have been adopted as government policy include free schools, Police and Crime Commissioners, Garden Villages and protecting the armed forces from prosecution under human rights laws. Policy Exchange has a unit called Judicial Power Project that examines the power of the British judiciary and argues that unelected judges have accrued too much power.
It describes itself as seeking localist, volunteer and free-market solutions to public policy problems, with research programmes covering education and social reform, energy and environment, Britain's place in the world, economics and industrial policy, housing policy, space, counter-terrorism and demography, integration and immigration.
History
Policy Exchange was set up in 2002 by a group including Nicholas Boles (director), Michael Gove (chairman) and Francis Maude. Maude went on to become Minister for the Cabinet Office, and names being one of the co-founders as his proudest political achievement. Gove went on to become Secretary of State for Education, Secretary of State for Justice, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He is currently Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
In May 2007, Boles was succeeded as director by Anthony Browne, a journalist and political correspondent for The Times. In September 2008, Browne stepped down to work for Boris Johnson, and was succeeded by Neil O'Brien, formerly director of Open Europe. In November 2012, O'Brien was appointed as a special adviser to George Osborne, and in 2013 he was succeeded by Dean Godson, formerly head of Policy Exchange's security unit.
In November 2018, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, described Policy Exchange as "multidisciplinary, highly influential, a productive force at the heart of Westminster and our political system." In 2020, Iain Dale described Policy Exchange as "the pre-eminent think tank in the Westminster village". Although sometime associated with the British centre-right, it also attracts contributors from the political left; in recent years contributors have included Labour MPs Jo Cox, Khalid Mahmood, and Alison McGovern.
In 2020 it absorbed Open Europe, a Eurosceptic think tank working on the European Union. In November 2020, it awarded the inaugural Grotius Prize to Scott Morrison, Australian Prime Minister, "in recognition of his work in support of the international rules based order".
Projects
Britain in the World
In January 2020, Policy Exchange hosted a high-level public discussion with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, at a prominent location in Westminster.
In February 2020, Open Europe's team joined Policy Exchange to lead the work of the Britain in the World project, where the research is focused on international trade and the opportunities for "Global Britain" after Brexit. The Head of Britain in the World project was previously Professor John Bew., who left to join the Number 10 Policy Unit.
The former Australian PM Kevin Rudd, responding to Stephen Kinnock at a Policy Exchange event at Labour Party Conference in autumn 2020, argued that there is a need to "reset" British foreign policy towards the Indo-Pacific. This idea has been pursued by Policy Exchange in its Indo-Pacific Commission, a project chaired by Stephen Harper, former Canadian PM, and given public support by Shinzo Abe, former Japanese Prime Minister, who argued in a foreword to the Commission's first report: "Britain can work with countries throughout the region on upholding democratic values and supporting the multinational institutions that have developed in recent years. On the security front, the British military, and the Royal Navy in particular, will be a welcome presence in the seas of the Indo-Pacific."