Top British politicians to mingle with oil executives, far-right figures and anti-abortion campaigners at conference in London

But the list of participants shows that the ARC also expects influential, but lesser-known, figures from the American right. Among them is Samuel SamsonDeputy Assistant Secretary of State in the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

According to the New York TimesSamson “has been at the forefront” of the Trump administration’s “efforts to reshape America’s relationship with Europe,” cultivate ties with far-right leaders across the continent. In March last year, he led a delegation of five people in the United Kingdom to investigate administration concerns about free speech. During the trip, US officials reportedly met with anti-abortion campaigners, broadcasting regulator Ofcom and Foreign Office officials; Samson would also have had a secret breakfast with the British reformist leader Nigel Farage where they discussed “buffer zones” around abortion centers, online safety laws and instances of censorship.

The involvement of fossil fuel leaders in this conference underlines what this reactionary international defends.

-Nick Dearden, Global Justice Now

Samson later published an article where he claimed that the UK and Europe had become a “hotbed of digital censorship, mass migration” and “restrictions on religious freedom”.citing the case of two British anti-abortion activists who were arrested for “praying silently outside abortion clinics”.

A State Department official said Unearthed and DeSmog: “The Trump Administration is proud to advocate for free speech, the rule of law, and a strong U.S.-UK relationship built on our shared civilizational values. We look forward to productive conversations at ARC that build on these shared interests.”

Samson’s meeting with Farage was reportedly organized by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an influential US anti-abortion group. FAD help to overturn Roe v. Wade – a Supreme Court decision that protected women’s legal right to abortion in the United States – And would have since together It is tourist sites on the UK and Europe. According to the list of participants, ADF will be well represented at the ARC, with more than a dozen of its members down to attend and its CEO Kristen Wagoner on the list of speakers. Representatives of anti-abortion groups Right to life United Kingdom, Christian concernAnd CitizenGO based in Spain are also expected.

An ADF International spokesperson said most of its members attending ARC next week were from the group’s offices in the UK and Europe.

“ADF International is a Christian legal rights organization that defends fundamental freedoms around the world, including in the United Kingdom where we have an office,” the spokesperson said.

“In this country we legally support people like Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who was arrested for praying silently in a public street, and Pastor Dia Moodley, who was arrested for peacefully preaching in a public square. In the UK, citizens are now being criminally prosecuted for the contents of their minds. This should trouble everyone.”

“ARC brings together a toxic alliance of far-right politicians, fossil fuel interests and anti-abortion activists,” said Kerry Abel, president of Abortion Rights. “The presence of the architects of the post-Roe assault on women’s rights should ring alarm bells. British parliamentarians cannot pretend to ignore the agenda of organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom: their aim is to roll back hard-won rights, and they are increasingly targeting Europe and the UK. MPs attending this conference should clearly explain to the public why they are giving legitimacy to this project.”

Also on the list of participants are executives of fossil fuel companies, including Valero, Heyco Energy and Koch Inc. Koch is a private fossil fuel giant whose co-founders David and Charles have been leading sponsors of climate science denial for decades.

Heyco is a privately held oil and gas exploration company based in Dallas, Texas. The company’s UK subsidiary, Egdon Resources, has detained regular meetings with Reform Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, Andrea Jenkyns, over their shared desire to introduce fracking for gas to the East Midlands region. Heyco was listed as a sponsor of the ARC last year and its CEO George Yates, who is scheduled to attend this year’s summit, is a frequent donor to Republican candidates.

They are expected to be joined by figures from prominent climate science denial groups, including Net Zero Watch, the CO2 Coalition and the Heritage Foundation.

Opposition to net zero emissions and decarbonization efforts were at the heart of the ARC’s offer last year. Over the three days, numerous sessions took place on the main stage, during which criticism of climate policy took an important place.

In his speech last year, ARC founder and funder Paul Marshal claimed that countries around the world were “infected by an ideological zeal” that had led them to develop net zero plans. He argued that this “climate disruption syndrome” sacrifices “our economic prosperity and the livelihoods of our people for the sole purpose of making minute changes to the level of CO2 in the atmosphere.”

“The involvement of fossil fuel leaders in this conference underlines what this reactionary international represents. » said Nick Dearden, Director of Global Justice Now. “They don’t want to build an economy that works for the majority.” We should not be welcoming these people to London,” he added. To stop their momentum, politicians must stop “feeding the beast” by “limiting corporate power” and proposing economic solutions “that truly give people back some control and dignity”.

An ARC spokesperson told the Guardian: “When we launched the initiative in 2023, challenging net zero amounted to heresy – now everyone from Bill Gates and Tony Blair to right-wing leaders have argued that abundant, reliable, cheap energy is the foundation layer of modern civilization. »

Donors

Materials from last year’s conference obtained and analyzed by Unearthed and DeSmog show that the ARC took money from powerful U.S. donors with close ties to the Trump administration.

American billionaires who contributed money to the ARC last year include Joe Craft, chairman of one of the American companies the biggest coal businesses, and his wife Kelly. The couple are one of Trump’s top donors and have reportedly put 2 million dollars in Trump’s 2016 campaign and inauguration, after which Kelly Craft served as U.S. Ambassador to Canada (2017-19) and Ambassador to the UN (2019-21). In 2026, she donated $125,000 to the Republican National Committee (RNC), and her husband joined Trump’s National Coal Council.

Other funders of the ARC last year included Bud and Anne Brigham. – billionaires and Major Trump donors. Bud Brigham is a prominent Texas oil tycoon who made his money from the shale boom. In 2024, it donated $150,000 to the Trump 47 committee and nearly $170,000 to the RNC.

Another ARC donor, tech investor Joe Lonsdaleco-founded data company Palantir with Peter Thiel, who spoke at last year’s event via video. The company has been heavily criticized for anti-democratic ideologies of his senior officialsas well as for its work on behalf of Trump’s ICE Immigration and Deportation Unit and the American military.

Lonsdale is a ally Vice President JD Vance and friend far-right tech entrepreneur Elon Musk; Lonsdale contributed reported $1 million for Musk’s pro-Trump fundraising campaign in the 2024 presidential election.

In total, the list of 42 named donors and sponsors who were thanked by the ARC in its promotional matLast year, nine fossil fuel companies or their directors or former directors were included., and a nomember of other individuals or organizations with interests in fossil fuels. The promotional material added that there were also “a number of generous anonymous donors”.

Among those named were Howard Energy Partners, one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in the United States, its CEO Mike Howard Family Foundationand former Canadian oil boss Gwyn Morgan.

Howard, a republican donor, was appointed to Trump’s National Oil Council in February of this year.

Morgan, who helped establish the Canadian Alberta Energy Company (AEC) in the 1970s, was double the “Koch of Canada”. This is a reference to US fossil fuel executives Charles Koch and his late brother David, who funneled millions of dollars to climate denial groups for decades. As revealed According to DeSmog, Morgan used his foundation to pump more than $9.5 million into a vast network of libertarian think tanks, right-wing media outlets and conservative organizations.