About Us

 

BGIPU’s operations and activities are overseen by a 26-member Executive Committee (ExCo), appointed by its entire membership which comprises members of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The ExCo manages a Forward Programme of engagement with counterpart parliaments under the auspices of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The Executive Committee is led by the Chair, three Vice-Chairs and a Treasurer. They are appointed annually at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) as stipulated in the Rules of the BGIPU. It is supported by a Secretariat, led by a Director, a Deputy Director and 5 other international programme management, finance and administrative staff.

What is the BGIPU?

The British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (BGIPU) aims to serve Britain’s interest through advancing the Parliamentary dimension of Britain’s foreign relations.

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What we do

Through its programme of activities, the BGIPU seeks to engage Parliamentarians in key global issues and works to expand awareness and understanding of foreign relations and the contribution to be made by the UK Parliament to consolidate parliamentary democracy worldwide.  The key activities below are set out in our membership brochure. The principal activities of […]

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BGIPU History

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was founded in June 1889 at the instigation of two backbench MPs: Frederic Passy from France, and William Randal Cremer from Westminster. The British Group was formally established in March that year and BGIPU have been actively involved in international relations since then…

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Our Founder

Sir (William) Randal Cremer was born in Fareham in 1828 in abject poverty. Having only the most basic education, he ended up working in the shipyards at age twelve. Cremer made his way upward with his exceptional skills as an organiser, becoming one of the first representatives of the working class in Parliament which he […]

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Inter-Parliamentary Union

Strong democratic parliaments serving the people The IPU is an international organisation comprising the parliaments of sovereign states established in 1889 in Paris by William Randal Cremer (United Kingdom) and Frédéric Passy (France). It was the world’s first permanent forum for political multilateral negotiations and the British Group of the IPU has remained active in its work since […]

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