Road blocks, police helicopters and blacked-out windows: But just who are the billionaires and politicians arriving for secretive Bilderberg conference at Watford hotel and what do they do there?
- Attendees thought to include politicians, top business executives and royalty
- Delegates were heckled by protesters as they arrived for four-day meeting
- MP Michael Meacher describes delegates as the 'real top brass of Western finance capitalism'
- Massive police operation could cost British taxpayer around £2million
- Conspiracy theorists claim leaders use event to plot world domination
- Bilderberg researcher: 'There are villains there who are basically trying to organise government'
- Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Eric Schmidt of Google will both be attending
- List of 140 politicians, academics and businessmen only includes 14 women
Delegates for a private conference of top politicians and businesspeople from around the world have started to arrive at a luxury country hotel.
Several cars with blacked-out windows entered the gates of the Grove Hotel, near Watford, in Hertfordshire, this morning for the secretive meeting of the Bilderberg Group.
It is thought billionaire executives from multinational companies such as Amazon and Google, high-ranking political figures including Chancellor George Osborne, and even members of royal families are among the 130 or so attendees.
Famous for being shrouded in secrecy, the Bilderberg conference is taking place in Britain for the first time since 1998 and conspiracy theorists believe this is where leaders plot world domination.
The huge police operation drafted in to monitor the four-day event, which has previously attracted mass demonstrations, could cost the British taxpayer as much as £2million or more, it has been claimed.
Scroll down for videos and a full Bilderberg Conference guest list
On guard: Police patrol the grounds of The Grove hotel which is hosting the annual Bilderberg conference
Demonstration: Protesters stand behind a security barrier in the grounds of the Grove Hotel. Conspiracy theorists believe the conference is where business leaders plot world domination
Cloaked: Famous for being shrouded in secrecy, the Bilderberg conference is taking place in Britain for the first time since 1998 and conspiracy theorists believe this is where leaders plot world domination
Incognito: Several cars with blacked-out windows entered the gates of the Grove Hotel, near Watford, in Hertfordshire, this morning for the secretive meeting of the Bilderberg Group
Watford town mayor Dorothy Thornhill said: 'I think it's outrageous that the local taxpayer has to pick up the tab for ostensibly a private meeting of trillionaires, probably the most wealthy people in the world.
'Hertfordshire Constabulary have suddenly got this unexpected budget strain dumped on them at literally a month's notice. It's not on.'
Hertfordshire Police has not revealed details of the bill, but they are in talks with the Home Office about a grant for 'unexpected or exceptional costs'.
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This is only approved if expenditure threatens a force's budget, which would need to be more than one per cent of its overall spend - or about £1.8million, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Hertfordshire Police said the Bilderberg Group has agreed to contribute some of the cost of security, but taxpayers will have to cover the rest.
A spokesman added: 'We will also be seeking funding from other sources to help cover the costs of policing and are in discussion with the Home Office about other funding sources.'
Ring of steel: Police officers man a road block as delegates arrived for the four-day meeting
Alert: Police on horseback patrol the area around the hotel as delegates arrive for the conference
Ring of steel: Three police officers man a gate on the outskirts of the hotel
'Outrageous': The huge police operation drafted in to monitor the four-day event, which has previously attracted mass demonstrations, could cost the British taxpayer as much as £2million or more, it has been claimed
Amid tight security, members of the press and a handful of protesters gathered in a fenced-off area just inside the grounds of the hotel today, but around half a mile from the redbrick hotel.
As delegates arrived for the four-day meeting from around 10.30am, protesters heckled their cars, shouting 'scum', 'pay your taxes' and 'shame on you' as they disappeared down the driveway.
The demonstrators, who gathered in the sunshine to wave anti-capitalist placards, play guitars and listen to speeches, were searched for alcohol and drugs as they entered the site.
Michael Meacher, the Labour MP, called the delegates the 'real top brass of Western finance capitalism'.
He said he believed Osborne would be attending for the sixth time this year, and named the meeting's 'steering committee' as Henri de Castries, the chairman of Axa, Peter Thiel, 'a billionaire venture capitalist', Thomas Enders from EADS, the defence manufacturing company, and Peter Sutherland, the chairman of Goldman Sachs.
Protest: A poster adorns the security barrier of the protester encampment outside The Grove hotel, which is hosting the annual Bilderberg conference
Making their views known: American radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones (left), speaks to the media, while protester Steve Jolly (right), from the organisation No CCTV wears a cardboard replica of a security camera on his head in the protester encampment outside The Grove hotel
Campaigners: Amid tight security, members of the press and a handful of protesters gathered in a fenced-off area just inside the grounds of the hotel, but around half a mile from the redbrick hotel
Speaking in the pen near the hotel gates, he said: 'They are the leaders of the biggest banks, the biggest multinational companies, people from the UN institutions like the World Bank, World Trade Organisation, several EU commissioners and several politicians from the US, Canada, the UK and the EU.
'These are people who are all in the most dominant positions in the governance of Western capitalism.
'They only meet in order to concert their plans about the future of capitalism over the immediate future period - the next year or two.
'My objection is that it's being done in utter secrecy with the police keeping everyone else out.'
'Real top brass': It is thought billionaire executives from multinational companies, high-ranking political figures and even members of royal families are among the 130 or so attendees
Keeping watch: The traditionally secretive conference, which has taken place since 1954, is expected to be attended by politicians, bank bosses, businessman and European royalty
Tight security: Police officers stand guard on the roads surrounding The Grove hotel near Watford, which is hosting the annual Bilderberg conference of top politicians and businesspeople from around the world
The politician said although he has no problem with powerful people meeting in private, the numbers at the Bilderberg meeting means they should be held accountable.
'When 130 of the leaders from all across the West get together, and many of these are billionaires, they are people who are immensely wealthy and immensely powerful,' he said.
'And when they all get together, it's not just to have a chat about the latest problem, it is to concert plans for the future of capitalism in the West.
On the guest list: Among those attending the conference will be Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls (left) and Conservative MP Kenneth Clarke (right)
Delegates: Christine Lagarde (left), managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and former Labour MP Peter Mandelson (right), who is now chairman of Global Counsel, will also be taking part in the event
Also attending is Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt
'That is on a very different scale.'
Chancellor George Osborne and his Labour counterpart Ed Balls will be there along with Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt of Google.
They are among the 140 people,
including only 14 women - who will this week discuss topics such as
‘cyber warfare’ and ‘jobs, entitlement and debt’.
Delegates never reveal exactly what is discussed, but it will involve the key issues these leaders believe the world faces.
Alex Jones, the U.S. television personality and Bilderberg researcher, said: 'It is very, very sinister.
'Not everybody who goes to Bilderberg, from my research, is a scoundrel or a villain.
'But there are definitely villains who are there who are basically trying to organise government and business.'
Judd Charlton, a ventriloquist from Camden in north London, said: 'We are basically here to bring down the parasites who are drug dealers and bank collapses who seem to want to destroy this world.'
BILDERBERG CONFERENCE 2013: FULL LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
| Castries,
Henri de (chairman) |
Chairman and CEO, AXA Group | |||||||||
| Achleitner, Paul M. | Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG | |||||||||
| Ackermann, Josef | Chairman of the Board, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd | |||||||||
| Agius, Marcus | Former Chairman, Barclays plc | |||||||||
| Alexander, Helen | Chairman, UBM plc | |||||||||
| Altman, Roger C. | Executive Chairman, Evercore Partners | |||||||||
| Apunen, Matti | Director, Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA | |||||||||
| Athey, Susan | Professor of Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business | |||||||||
| Aydıntaşbaş, Aslı | Columnist, Milliyet Newspaper | |||||||||
| Babacan, Ali | Deputy Prime Minister for Economic and Financial Affairs | |||||||||
| Balls, Edward M. | Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer | |||||||||
| Balsemão, Francisco Pinto | Chairman and CEO, IMPRESA | |||||||||
| Barré, Nicolas | Managing Editor, Les Echos | |||||||||
| Barroso, José M. Durão | President, European Commission | |||||||||
| Baverez, Nicolas | Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP | |||||||||
| Bavinchove, Olivier de | Commander, Eurocorps | |||||||||
| Bell, John | Regius Professor of Medicine, University of Oxford | |||||||||
| Bernabè, Franco | Chairman and CEO, Telecom Italia S.p.A. | |||||||||
| Bezos, Jeff | Founder and CEO, Amazon.com | |||||||||
| Bildt, Carl | Minister for Foreign Affairs | |||||||||
| Borg, Anders | Minister for Finance | |||||||||
| Boxmeer, Jean François van | Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO, Heineken N.V. | |||||||||
| Brandtzæg, Svein Richard | President and CEO, Norsk Hydro ASA | |||||||||
| Bronner, Oscar | Publisher, Der Standard Medienwelt | |||||||||
| Carrington, Peter | Former Honorary Chairman, Bilderberg Meetings | |||||||||
| Cebrián, Juan Luis | Executive Chairman, Grupo PRISA | |||||||||
| Clark, W. Edmund | President and CEO, TD Bank Group | |||||||||
| Clarke, Kenneth | Member of Parliament | |||||||||
| Corydon, Bjarne | Minister of Finance | |||||||||
| Cowper-Coles, Sherard | Business Development Director, International, BAE Systems plc | |||||||||
| Cucchiani, Enrico Tommaso | CEO, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA | |||||||||
| Davignon, Etienne | Minister of State; Former Chairman, Bilderberg Meetings | |||||||||
| Davis, Ian | Senior Partner Emeritus, McKinsey & Company | |||||||||
| Dijkgraaf, Robbert H. | Director and Leon Levy Professor, Institute for Advanced Study | |||||||||
| Dinçer, Haluk | President, Retail and Insurance Group, Sabancı Holding A.S. | |||||||||
| Dudley, Robert | Group Chief Executive, BP plc | |||||||||
| Eberstadt, Nicholas N. | Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy, American Enterprise Institute | |||||||||
| Eide, Espen Barth | Minister of Foreign Affairs | |||||||||
| Ekholm, Börje | President and CEO, Investor AB | |||||||||
| Enders, Thomas | CEO, EADS | |||||||||
| Evans, J. Michael | Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs & Co. | |||||||||
| Federspiel, Ulrik | Executive Vice President, Haldor Topsøe A/S | |||||||||
| Feldstein, Martin S. | Professor of Economics, Harvard University; President Emeritus, NBER | |||||||||
| Fillon, François | Former Prime Minister | |||||||||
| Fishman, Mark C. | President, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research | |||||||||
| Flint, Douglas J. | Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings plc | |||||||||
| Gallagher, Paul | Senior Counsel | |||||||||
| Geithner, Timothy F. | Former Secretary of the Treasury | |||||||||
| Gfoeller, Michael | Political Consultant | |||||||||
| Graham, Donald E. | Chairman and CEO, The Washington Post Company | |||||||||
| Grillo, Ulrich | CEO, Grillo-Werke AG | |||||||||
| Gruber, Lilli | Journalist - Anchorwoman, La 7 TV | |||||||||
| Guindos, Luis de | Minister of Economy and Competitiveness | |||||||||
| Gulliver, Stuart | Group Chief Executive, HSBC Holdings plc | |||||||||
| Gutzwiller, Felix | Member of the Swiss Council of States | |||||||||
| Halberstadt, Victor | Professor of Economics, Leiden University | |||||||||
| Heinonen, Olli | Senior Fellow, Belfer
Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School | |||||||||
| Henry, Simon | CFO, Royal Dutch Shell plc | |||||||||
| Hermelin, Paul | Chairman and CEO, Capgemini Group | |||||||||
| Isla, Pablo | Chairman and CEO, Inditex Group | |||||||||
| Jacobs, Kenneth M. | Chairman and CEO, Lazard | |||||||||
| Johnson, James A. | Chairman, Johnson Capital Partners | |||||||||
| Jordan, Thomas J. | Chairman of the Governing Board, Swiss National Bank | |||||||||
| Jordan, Jr., Vernon E. | Managing Director, Lazard Freres & Co. LLC | |||||||||
| Kaplan, Robert D. | Chief Geopolitical Analyst, Stratfor | |||||||||
| Karp, Alex | Founder and CEO, Palantir Technologies | |||||||||
| Kerr, John | Independent Member, House of Lords | |||||||||
| Kissinger, Henry A. | Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc. | |||||||||
| Kleinfeld, Klaus | Chairman and CEO, Alcoa | |||||||||
| Knot, Klaas H.W. | President, De Nederlandsche Bank | |||||||||
| Koç, Mustafa V. | Chairman, Koç Holding A.S. | |||||||||
| Koch, Roland | CEO, Bilfinger SE | |||||||||
| Kravis, Henry R. | Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. | |||||||||
| Kravis, Marie-Josée | Senior Fellow and Vice Chair, Hudson Institute | |||||||||
| Kudelski, André | Chairman and CEO, Kudelski Group | |||||||||
| Kyriacopoulos, Ulysses | Chairman, S&B Industrial Minerals S.A. | |||||||||
| Lagarde, Christine | Managing Director, International Monetary Fund | |||||||||
| Lauk, Kurt J. | Chairman of the Economic Council to the CDU, Berlin | |||||||||
| Lessig, Lawrence | Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School | |||||||||
| Leysen, Thomas | Chairman of the Board of Directors, KBC Group | |||||||||
| Lindner, Christian | Party Leader, Free Democratic Party (FDP NRW) | |||||||||
| Löfven, Stefan | Party Leader, Social Democratic Party (SAP) | |||||||||
| Löscher, Peter | President and CEO, Siemens AG | |||||||||
| Mandelson, Peter | Chairman, Global Counsel; Chairman, Lazard International | |||||||||
| Mathews, Jessica T. | President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | |||||||||
| McKenna, Frank | Chair, Brookfield Asset Management | |||||||||
| Micklethwait, John | Editor-in-Chief, The Economist | |||||||||
| Montbrial, Thierry de | President, French Institute for International Relations | |||||||||
| Monti, Mario | Former Prime Minister | |||||||||
| Mundie, Craig J. | Senior Advisor to the CEO, Microsoft Corporation | |||||||||
| Nagel, Alberto | CEO, Mediobanca | |||||||||
| Netherlands, H.R.H. Princess Beatrix of The | ||||||||||
| Ng, Andrew Y. | Co-Founder, Coursera | |||||||||
| Ollila, Jorma | Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell, plc | |||||||||
| Omand, David | Visiting Professor, King's College London | |||||||||
| Osborne, George | Chancellor of the Exchequer | |||||||||
| Ottolenghi, Emanuele | Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies | |||||||||
| Özel, Soli | Senior Lecturer, Kadir Has University; Columnist, Habertürk Newspaper | |||||||||
| Papahelas, Alexis | Executive Editor, Kathimerini Newspaper | |||||||||
| Pavey, Şafak | Member of Parliament (CHP) | |||||||||
| Pécresse, Valérie | Member of Parliament (UMP) | |||||||||
| Perle, Richard N. | Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute | |||||||||
| Petraeus, David H. | General, U.S. Army (Retired) | |||||||||
| Portas, Paulo | Minister of State and Foreign Affairs | |||||||||
| Prichard, J. Robert S. | Chair, Torys LLP | |||||||||
| Reding, Viviane | Vice President and Commissioner for Justice, European Commission | |||||||||
| Reisman, Heather M. | CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc. | |||||||||
| Rey, Hélène | Professor of Economics, London Business School | |||||||||
| Robertson, Simon | Partner, Robertson Robey Associates LLP; Deputy Chairman, HSBC Holdings | |||||||||
| Rocca, Gianfelice | Chairman,Techint Group | |||||||||
| Rostowski, Jacek | Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister | |||||||||
| Rubin, Robert E. | Co-Chairman, Council on Foreign Relations; Former Secretary of the Treasury | |||||||||
| Rutte, Mark | Prime Minister | |||||||||
| Schieder, Andreas | State Secretary of Finance | |||||||||
| Schmidt, Eric E. | Executive Chairman, Google Inc. | |||||||||
| Scholten, Rudolf | Member of the Board of Executive Directors, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG | |||||||||
| Seguro, António José | Secretary General, Socialist Party | |||||||||
| Senard, Jean-Dominique | CEO, Michelin Group | |||||||||
| Skogen Lund, Kristin | Director General, Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise | |||||||||
| Slaughter, Anne-Marie | Bert G. Kerstetter '66
University Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton |
|||||||||
| Sutherland, Peter D. | Chairman, Goldman Sachs International | |||||||||
| Taylor, Martin | Former Chairman, Syngenta AG | |||||||||
| Thiam, Tidjane | Group CEO, Prudential plc | |||||||||
| Thiel, Peter A. | President, Thiel Capital | |||||||||
| Thompson, Craig B. | President and CEO, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center | |||||||||
| Topsøe, Jakob Haldor | Partner, AMBROX Capital A/S | |||||||||
| Urpilainen, Jutta | Minister of Finance | |||||||||
| Vasella, Daniel L. | Honorary Chairman, Novartis AG | |||||||||
| Voser, Peter R. | CEO, Royal Dutch Shell plc | |||||||||
| Wall, Brad | Premier of Saskatchewan | |||||||||
| Wallenberg, Jacob | Chairman, Investor AB | |||||||||
| Warsh, Kevin | Distinguished Visiting Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University | |||||||||
| Weston, Galen G. | Executive Chairman, Loblaw Companies Limited | |||||||||
| Williams of Crosby, Shirley | Member, House of Lords | |||||||||
| Wolf, Martin H. | Chief Economics Commentator, The Financial Times | |||||||||
| Wolfensohn, James D. | Chairman and CEO, Wolfensohn and Company | |||||||||
| Wright, David | Vice Chairman, Barclays plc | |||||||||
| Zoellick, Robert B. | Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics | |||||||||
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