This article is co-published with Carole Cadwalladr’s newsletter on Substack
On a chilly December morning two weeks ago, at a location deep in the Buckinghamshire countryside in the grounds of one of Britain’s most spectacular stately homes, cars began to arrive carrying some of the most powerful players in global energy.
Guests stepped out into a courtyard that boasts an Anish Kapoor sculpture and a stunning reflecting pool overlooking the Vale of Aylesbury and entered a stunning converted dairy firm transformed into a discreetly luxurious art and events space in the grounds of Waddesdon Manor.
Waiters circulated with breakfast snacks prepared by a Michelin-starred chef as the hosts, James Harding, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Tortoise Media; and Patrick Handley of the Brunswick Group, a City PR film – the current clients of which include Saudi Arabia’s Aramco – welcomed guests from around the world.
The annual event is a jewel in Tortoise Media’s crown, held in partnership with Brunswick and the Rothschild Foundation, set up by Harding’s friend and mentor, the legendary financier Jacob Rothschild, the 4th Baron Rothschild, whose family seat is Waddesdon Manor, and still managed by the family.
Harding, a former Editor of The Times and Director of BBC News, had other matters on his mind that day too. Because 5 December was also the second day of a historic strike by Guardian and Observer journalists – the first in half a century. They had overwhelmingly voted to do so in protest against the ‘sale’ of the Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper and a core part of the Guardian’s news organisation, to Harding’s Tortoise Media.
Although it was a freezing December morning out on the picket line, spirits were high. Journalists didn’t yet know that, later that day at an emergency meeting of the Scott Trust, the private company that owns the historically progressive and liberal Guardian and Observer, would agree to the deal, even as they were still on strike.
Nor did they know – until now – that, as they stood on the picket line, Harding was greeting members of Tortoise’s energy ‘advisory board’, including a name all too familiar to those who track the geopolitics of global energy: Bob Dudley, the former Chief Executive of BP who is best known in the US for overseeing the clean-up of the disastrous Gulf of Mexico spill and cheerleading for Donald Trump. Last month, he toured TV studios to tell viewers how a win for Trump was a win for US energy and business interests.
But Kremlin observers know Dudley too: he led BP’s tumultuous joint venture with Russian oil company, TNK; and subsequently took a seat on the board of Rosneft, a Russian oil company chaired by one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, Igor Sechin.
In fact, Dudley was on Rosneft’s board when the company joined Roman Abramovich in a lawsuit against investigative journalist Catherine Belton that 18 press freedom organisations described as a ‘SLAPP’ (a Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation), designed to chill Belton and other journalists’ reporting.
Belton’s case became a cause célèbre and added to public and political pressure to reform the law. Dudley, in contrast, made no public comment and resigned his position only after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
But Dudley didn’t just sit on Rosneft’s board at that time. He sat on – and still sits on – a Tortoise Media energy ‘advisory board’.
Harding – who spoke at this year’s ‘Truth Tellers’ conference dedicated to investigative journalism convened by Tina Brown in memory of her husband, the legendary Sunday Times Editor, Sir Harry Evans – declined to comment on Dudley’s association with a news organisation.
Dudley had been part of the group that had brought this event together, shaping its contents and even, in 2022, just months after he had finally stepped down from Rosneft’s board, putting his name to the invite alongside James Harding; Jacob Rothschild; and the director of Oxy, a US oil company, Claire Perry O’Neill.
Since May this year, Dudley has also picked up a new gig: he now sits on the board of Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia.
It couldn’t have been a busier time for James Harding. He was in the thick of complex and controversial negotiations for the Observer – a deal which journalists, six former editors, and more than 100 artistic and cultural figures have protested, and which has left industry analysts baffled. Yet, amid it all, he found time to be at the event and gave the opening remarks with his characteristic enthusiasm and energy.
It is an indication of how important the annual event – the Responsible Energy Forum – is for Tortoise.