Tech billionaire Jeff Bezos’s Amazon has become the latest backer of former prime minister’s Tony Blair Institute, The i Paper can reveal.
The latest company accounts of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) discloses Amazon Web Services (AWS) became one of its new “donors and funding partners” in 2023 along with Microsoft, Uber London and the multinational energy company SSE.
AWS is Amazon’s computing arm which provides cloud services to individuals, companies and government. Last December AWS secured three government contracts totalling almost £1bn including deals with the Home Office, HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Tony Blair’s Institute has strong links to the Labour Government. Sir Keir Starmer gave the keynote speech at the TBI conference in July 2023, and at this year’s Labour conference in Liverpool, several senior ministers spoke at meetings organised by TBI under the slogan, “The Future of Britain”. These included Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones and Science Secretary Peter Kyle.
The TBI says it is “proud” to have Amazon’s support, adding: “we benefit enormously from the innovation, experience and knowledge of all our partners”.
Last October the UK communications regulator, Ofcom, referred AWS along with Microsoft to the competition watchdog over concerns related to the companies’ dominance in the UK’s £7.5bn cloud computing market and the levels of profit they were earning.
Anti-corruption campaigners, Transparency International, have expressed concern that large corporations might see donations to think-tanks like TBI as a way to bolster their commercial interests.
The former prime minister’s institute has been at the forefront of promoting the use of AI as the way to improve public services, arguing it can both cut staffing and costs while improving the public sector.
In a May 2024, a TBI paper proposing a “new model to transform the state” said that Government needed to increase the “computing power” of the public sector to undergo this transformation. It said to do this Government must “continue to pursue favourable rates for public-sector bodies with hyperscalers such as Oracle, Microsoft, Google and Amazon”.
While AWS and Microsoft are listed as new “donors and partners” to TBI, the philanthropic organisation funded by the Oracle founder, Larry Ellison, has in recent years become one of TBI’s key financial supporters donating around £200m.
Rose Whiffen, senior research officer at Transparency International UK said there were concerns that multinational corporations use bodies like TBI to push their financial interests:
She said: “Not-for-profit organisations with well-connected leaders often seek to influence government policy. If they do this in the interests of their funders it is important for the public to see where their money is coming from and have an understanding of the figures involved. These corporate funding arrangements are another illustration of why a comprehensive lobbying register is long overdue.”
A spokesperson for TBI said: “It is well-known that central to TBI’s mission is our belief that the technology revolution is the biggest real world event of our time and to govern effectively in the modern world leaders must harness the opportunities of tech and AI while mitigating the risks. “
They added: “We have been advising governments on this for years because we believe that tech can provide solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems. This has nothing to do with any donations. We and the countries we work in benefit enormously from the innovation, experience and knowledge of all our partners and we are proud to have them as part of our network.”
Amazon and Microsoft face UK competition probe
Amazon and Microsoft together control up to 80 per cent of the country’s cloud market. Last October Ofcom asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to launch an inquiry, saying it is “particularly concerned about the position of the market leaders Amazon and Microsoft”.
Ofcom also said the profits generated by Amazon and Microsoft pointed to competition issues.
The regulator said: “High levels of profitability for the market leaders AWS and Microsoft indicate there are limits to the overall level of competition.”
AWS disagreed with Ofcom’s findings claiming they were based on a “fundamental misconception of how the IT sector functions”.
An AWS spokesperson said: “Any unwarranted intervention could lead to unintended harm to IT customers and competition. AWS will work constructively with the CMA.” Microsoft said it plans to engage “constructively” with the CMA about the regulator’s concerns.
This September Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced an £8bn investment from AWS which it was estimated would create as many as 14,000 jobs at Amazon and in local businesses. Ms Reeves said the AWS investment would generate employment in the company’s data centres and in other related industries.
TBI is a company but is run as a not-for-profit organisation with any profits reinvested into the institute. The former prime minister serves as the institute’s executive chair and does not take a salary, although his most senior director saw their remuneration double from $622,000 to $1.26m (£975,000).
The latest accounts show that despite a 20 per cent rise in revenues, TBI fell to a $2.2mn loss last year after a sharp increase in operating costs driven by rising staff costs and regional expansion.
TBI derives most of its income from its advisers counselling governments on areas ranging from strategy to policy and technology.
The institute has been criticised for its work advising Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader Mohammed bin Salman because of the crown prince’s alleged role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The prince has denied any involvement.
Amazon declined to comment but it’s understood they’ve paid to become a member of TBI’s corporate network. Microsoft were also approached for a comment