The World Economic Forum (WEF) has been accused of rigging research to make Brexit look like a failure.
Klaus Schwab, the face of the Davos conference in Switzerland for years, allegedly intervened in the WEF’s annual Global Competitiveness Report, which ranks countries on productivity and long-term prosperity.
In the 2017/2018 report, the UK’s ranking improved from seventh to fourth after a change in methodology.
But Mr Schwab, 87, wrote to staff that the UK “must not see any improvement”, as otherwise it would be “exploited by the Brexit camp”.
The final report published in 2017 showed the UK had dropped one place to eighth.
The WEF said at the time the Brexit vote had not fed into the rankings but warned it was likely to undermine UK competitiveness in the future.
“Brexit … will by definition weaken the UK’s markets component as integration with the EU is rolled back,” the report said.
At the time of the report, the UK had voted to leave the European Union but had not yet done so, and the difficult Brexit negotiations were at their beginning.
There was still discussion of the possibility of holding a second referendum in order to reverse the result of the 2016 vote.
Baroness Theresa May, the then-Prime Minister, spoke at the Davos summit in January 2017 and 2018. She said that Britain was looking to its post-Brexit future “with confidence” and planned to “build a truly Global Britain” based around free trade.
Allegations that Mr Schwab ordered the figures to be changed were made in an internal WEF investigation, launched after a whistleblower accused him of misusing funds, making suggestive remarks to younger staff, and manipulating research.
Switzerland’s SonntagsZeitung newspaper obtained some of the preliminary findings.
Brexiteers told The Telegraph that allegations of tampering with data exposed “anti-democratic practices” at the WEF.
The WEF’s annual meeting at Davos has become a symbol of out-of-touch elitism but also a lightning rod for conspiracy theories.
In 2020, King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, and Mr Schwab called for the Covid pandemic to be used as a “great reset” of the world economy.
This was seized upon by online conspiracy theorists as proof unelected leaders were plotting a tyrannical world government.
During the preparation of the same report, according to the investigation, Mr Schwab allegedly ensured that India did not drop 20 places in the ranking.
He was hoping to convince Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, to join the conference in the Swiss Alpine ski resort, which is attended by about 60 world leaders every year.
Mr Schwab reportedly wrote: “We must protect our relationship with India before Davos 2019.” India ranked 40th, just one place lower than the previous year in the report.
Expenses claims
The investigation carried out by Homburger, the law firm, also looked into some £836,000 in expenses submitted by Schwab and his wife Hilde. SonntagsZeitung reported the expenses allegedly lacked sufficient links to WEF activities.
It is also alleged Mr Schwab sent suggestive emails and had “embarrassing interactions” with younger WEF staff. The final results of the investigation have not yet been published.
Mr Schwab accused the WEF board of breaking an agreement on media restraint tied to the investigation after the initial findings were leaked to SonntagsZeitung.
He said he had co-operated with the inquiry on the basis that both sides would not make public comments on the investigation.
Klaus Schwab with Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2020 – Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty
“I feel deceived,” he said on Sunday, “I am not available for further investigations.”
Before Davos 2017, the first to be held since the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump, Mr Schwab called on attendees to help “overcome the present mood of divisiveness and negativism”.
That year, he acknowledged that globalisation had become an “easy scapegoat” for rising populism, as typified by the Brexit vote.
In 2016, he described the referendum result as “one challenge more for the global economy”.
‘A stain on the reputation of the WEF’
Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, commented: “For such a senior figure in geopolitical affairs to have conspired and manipulated information against Brexit and the democratic outcome of a political process is a stain on the reputation of the WEF and those who are part of that forum, and it is thoroughly unacceptable.”
The conservative MP for Witham added: “The WEF had built its reputation on geopolitical thought leadership but has now been exposed for its own anti democratic practices, sinister manipulation and corrupted process all based upon damaging Britain’s reputation and standing in the world because of Schwab’s narrow minded and selfish ideological purposes.”
Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, told The Telegraph: “Every conspiracy theory about Klaus Schwab now turns out to be true. He is a dangerous globalist manipulator.”
Richard Tice, deputy leader, added: “No surprise the globalist WEF appears to have distorted facts to prevent sovereignty and independence being seen as a good thing. They are a dreadful organisation that Reform will have nothing to do with.”
Lord Frost negotiated the Brexit deal that took the UK out of the EU when Boris Johnson was prime minister.
He said: “It’s rare we get such clear direct evidence of the global establishment’s hostility to Brexit. Schwab’s alleged deliberate downgrading of Brexit Britain in his Global Competitiveness Report, directly contrary to the actual evidence, shows how deeply embedded distrust of national independence is, and how determined so many people are to suppress any discussion of its benefits.”
He added: “Labour’s continued denunciation of our trade agreement with the EU, and their refusal to acknowledge that their trade deals with India and the US would have been impossible without it, are the direct descendants of Schwab’s censorship: ideology before evidence, belief before fact.”
The WEF has declined to comment on the investigation and said it will respond when the probe is finished, which is expected to be in August.
The Government has been asked to comment.
The term “Davos Man” was coined 20 years ago by political scientist Samuel P Huntington to describe an elite who “have little need for national loyalty, view national boundaries as obstacles that thankfully are vanishing, and see national governments as residues from the past.”