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  • Tom Cargill
  • Wilton Park CEO
  • 23/10/2026
  • Growth, Global Economy and Trade

Backing Britain's businesses

Mid-market

Since joining Wilton Park I’ve been determined to strengthen our focus on business, growth and resilience, to complement and support our global work as a modern multilateral facilitator.

I am really pleased that we now benefit from growing links with the best of UK and international business, and are doing ever more to support the UK government’s agenda to support growth in every postcode.

This month ahead of the UK’s Budget on 28th October, Wilton Park hosted an important meeting of our Global Impact Group bringing business and government together to assess early progress on the new government’s international agenda, and how rewiring the state relates to the need to build a more ‘Team UK’ approach to our international trade and economic diplomacy.

This was closely followed by an important dialogue on building the growth and resilience of mid-market companies, held in partnership with BIST, NatWest and Intuit, with personal support from the Prime Minister.

Through these activities and our wider work, Wilton Park is increasingly active as a strategically networked government asset building good growth and common purpose right across the UK.

Tom Cargill

Chief Executive

PM Andy Burnham sits at a table and holds a piece of paper.
PM Andy Burnham sits at a table and holds a piece of paper.

Prime Minister backs UK’s mid-market businesses in message to Wilton Park participants

This week Prime Minister Andy Burnham wrote to business leaders at the Wilton Park dialogue on Mid-market companies: resilience and growth, recognising the vital contribution that mid-market businesses make to the UK economy and thanking attendees for sharing their expertise and experience.

In his message, the Prime Minister highlighted the central role that mid-market companies play in driving growth across the country, describing them as some of the UK’s most productive, innovative and internationally ambitious businesses.

The Prime Minister also recognised the value of dialogue between business and government, remarking that bringing together business leaders, policymakers and partners to share ideas, challenge assumptions and explore practical solutions is essential to supporting future growth and resilience.

He noted that insights from the discussion would help inform ongoing government work to better understand the opportunities and barriers facing mid-market companies.
We’re especially grateful to Minister Leong for opening the dialogue and supporting these vital discussions, and to our partners NatWest, Intuit and Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.

Read the Prime Minister’s letter in full

Minister Leong, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Small Business and Enterprise) in the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, speaks at the Wilton Park conference table. A participant speaking in a breakout group at a Wilton Park dialogue
A participant speaking at the Wilton Park conference table.
Minister Leong, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Small Business and Enterprise) in the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, speaks at the Wilton Park conference table.
A participant speaking in a breakout group at a Wilton Park dialogue
A participant speaking at the Wilton Park conference table.

Global Impact Group

In October, we brought senior leaders from global businesses together to engage in strategic discussions on UK policy priorities, with focus on the new Government’s foreign, industrial and defence priorities.

Discussions covered the UK-EU relationship, G20 priorities and national resilience; how devolution can succeed through strong regional leadership and international best practice; defence as a driver of regional growth and the role of public-private partnerships; and how to strengthen and measure supply chain resilience.

Learn more

Getting growth right: real-world choices for jobs, supply chains, finance and technology

GDP remains an essential measure of economic activity, but there is growing agreement that it is not, on its own, a sufficient guide to progress.

This retreat explored what it means to pursue ‘good growth’, growth that expands opportunity and prosperity while strengthening its long-term foundations. It drew on recent Beyond GDP thinking, including the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group report.

Set against a more contested and uncertain global economy, participants from government, business, finance, international organisations, civil society and academia focused not on new metrics, but on practical shifts in how growth-related decisions are framed and made, with particular attention to labour, AI, finance, standards and supply chains, and the trade-offs between productivity, inclusion, resilience and sustainability across different country contexts.

Graphic featuring three people against a textured green background. A large green upward arrow runs diagonally across the image, symbolising growth. A green banner across the lower centre contains the white text “Getting growth right”.

Getting growth right video playlist

Watch our playlist of experts on what good growth means from regional and international perspectives, rethinking GDP, and a first-hand account of building Kenya’s cassava-to-ethanol industry.

Watch

Latest reports

Read our latest reports, including transitioning away from fossil fuels, local currency finance and sport for development in the Global South.

Read our latest reports
Computer monitor displaying the Wilton Park logo and a blue conference folder with the words “World-changing dialogue” visible on screen. In the background, participants are seated around the conference table at Wilton Park

The Diplomatic Brief

Wilton Park Foundation presents The Diplomatic Brief – a series of conversations exploring the dialogue shaping international affairs, with those who have been ‘in the room’.

In each episode, hear from people with first-hand experience of international diplomacy: ambassadors, politicians, policymakers, negotiators and others who have been part of the conversations that shape our world.

Coming Thursday 29 October: An in-depth conversation with Stephen Twigg, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, ahead of November’s Commonwealth Business Forum.

Learn more

A participant seated at the conference table, wearing glasses and a light grey jacket. Large red and white text on the left reads “STRENGTHENING NUCLEAR DETERRENT”.

Latest videos: Adapting NATO’s deterrent to the new geopolitical landscape

Héloïse Fayet of Ifri – Institut français des relations internationales, joined us to discuss forward deterrence and the need for European countries to coordinate in the face of threats from Russia.

Watch

Upcoming events

Government partnerships for reconstruction

Government-to-Government partnerships offer one route for combining UK business expertise with government support to help post-conflict or disaster-affected partners rebuild infrastructure quickly, safely and sustainably. This dialogue will examine how to make these partnerships more effective while driving opportunities for UK industry.

Find out more

From Declaration to delivery: operationalising the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Coalition to achieve a more resilient Commonwealth

Held with the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Initiative ahead of CHOGM 2026, this event will bring together government, city and investment leaders to explore sustainable urbanisation as a driver of Commonwealth prosperity. Participants will agree next steps for launching the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Coalition as a flagship partnership.

Find out more

Inclusive cities and the future of urban investment: financing disability inclusion at scale

More than 1.3 billion people, around 16 per cent of the world’s population, live with disabilities, yet disability inclusion is still too often treated as a safeguard or compliance requirement in urban, climate and infrastructure finance, rather than a wider investment standard.

This dialogue will examine how blended finance, combining public, concessional, philanthropic and private capital, can help make disability inclusion a standard feature of urban investment at scale, building on 2026 policy opportunities and feeding into the UN Global Disability Fund’s Global Biennial Forum in early 2027.

Find out more

FCDO Diplomatic College

We are proud to host the third cohort of the FCDO’s Global Network Programme, bringing together senior leaders from UK government, foreign governments, business, academia and civil society for exclusive exchange and shared learning to help navigate today’s shifting geopolitical landscape.

MENAF Critical Minerals Forum 2026

This invitation-only Forum will bring together approximately 60 senior representatives from governments, investors, industry, research institutions and international partners to explore how the UK, like-minded governments, and African and Gulf partners can combine their capabilities to advance practical, investable critical-minerals partnerships.
Discussions will focus on the conditions needed to move opportunities towards investment and delivery, including infrastructure, processing, project finance, skills and responsible sourcing, with the aim of identifying concrete actions and partnerships to take forward.

 

 

Wilton Park’s history and British foreign policy

Read an extract from Professor Holger Nehring’s paper analysing Wilton Park’s evolving role in British foreign policy, from its impact on post-war Anglo-German reconciliation to its contemporary position as a multilateral facilitator.

Read now
Professor Holger Nehring addresses the conference room at Wilton Park

Recent events

Building leadership for reform of our international architecture

The multilateral system is under real strain. Norms are eroding, institutions are fragmenting, and confidence in collective problem-solving has diminished. Yet across countries, leaders and regional bodies, calls for UN reform are building.

Our dialogue, Building Leadership for Reform of our International Architecture, brought together a group of like-minded countries that champion multilateralism to explore realistic pathways towards a stronger global governance system, one capable of responding to today’s critical challenges and overcoming the limitations of what already exists.

Human rights futures: security as a way of advancing human dignity, rights and justice

This dialogue, part of the Nous: Powering the Future of Human Rights series, explored the interplay of security and human rights considerations in the current geopolitical environment.
Participants worked to build a shared understanding of security policy as a means of advancing human dignity and rights, and considered how to overcome the political challenges this approach may face.

a group of participants gathered for a group photo at a Wilton Park event. Two participants seated at a table during a breakout session.One participant, wearing patterned clothing, a matching headwrap and glasses, listens while resting a hand against the side of the face. Another participant, wearing a dark jacket and name badge, writes notes in a notebook.
articipants networking and talking in a lounge area during a conference or workshop. Two people are seated in armchairs in the foreground engaged in conversation over coffee
a group of participants gathered for a group photo at a Wilton Park event.
Two participants seated at a table during a breakout session.One participant, wearing patterned clothing, a matching headwrap and glasses, listens while resting a hand against the side of the face. Another participant, wearing a dark jacket and name badge, writes notes in a notebook.
articipants networking and talking in a lounge area during a conference or workshop. Two people are seated in armchairs in the foreground engaged in conversation over coffee

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