Chatham House (Rules)

I was privileged to be invited to lunch to day at the East India Club on St James's Square by Mr Bhatti who also gave me a tour of the building - all very splendid. 

Across the Square at No 10 is Chatham House and I immediately wondered if it had any link to the the concept of "Chatham House Rules". Turns out it does! Although I can't find out (so far) exactly how it emerged. No 10 is home to the Royal Institute of International Affairs.  You can learn more about what they do here: https://www.chathamhouse.org/about/history

In it's time No10 has also been home to three prime ministers (William Pitt the Elder (Earl of Chatham) 1708 - 1788, Edward Stanley (Earl of Derby) 1799 - 1869 and William Gladstone 1809 - 1898). 


According to Wikipedia: "The Chatham House Rule is a system for holding debates and discussion panels on controversial issues, named after the headquarters of the UK Royal Institute of International Affairs, based in Chatham House, London, where the rule originated in June 1927.

At a meeting held under the Chatham House Rule, anyone who comes to the meeting is free to use information from the discussion, but is not allowed to reveal who made any comment. It is designed to increase openness of discussion".

The actual rule is not what I understood. I thought it meant that the discussions were confidential and not that anyone present could use the information gleaned. So - we learn something new every day!