Consultancy linked to Trump's Gaza plans hired to advise on UK's 10-year strategy: Report

Boston Consulting Group providing only 1 consultant for 'specific specialist advice,' UK government reportedly says

Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a US consultancy linked to President Donald Trump's controversial proposals for Gaza, has been hired to advise on the UK government's 10-year strategy, local media reported Monday. The Times reported that the firm had been brought in to help develop the long-term plan, which could be scaled back from its original ambitions and delayed until the new year rather than unveiled in December. BCG has faced criticism over its reported involvement in Trump's proposal to transform Gaza into a so-called "Riviera of the Middle East," which critics have condemned as a plan to displace Palestinians. The consultancy was also involved in establishing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israel- and US-backed aid organization accused of facilitating attacks on Palestinians seeking food. Green Party leader Zack Polanski called for BCG's removal from the government's planning process. He said in a statement: “Aside from an obvious point that you don’t appoint companies like the Boston Consulting Group if you have any actual intention of ending 40 years of neoliberalism, Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ blueprint is clear ethnic cleansing and the idea that Andy Burnham has invited these people into the heart of Downing Street shows contempt for the victims of the genocide." The UK government told Politico that BCG's involvement was limited to a single consultant providing “specific specialist advice.”