\u201cThis is virtue signalling,\u201d said Nigel Biggar. \u201cThese are elites who are trying to demonstrate that they are being progressive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The target of his scorn was one that has obsessed him for years: the movement to pay reparations for the slave trade, and specifically the Church of England\u2019s plan to spend \u00a3100m atoning for its involvement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got north of 100 parish churches in my constituency, many of them crumbling,\u201d added Katie Lam, an up-and-coming Conservative MP and immigration hardliner<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lord Biggar, a retired professor, Conservative peer and Anglican priest, was speaking alongside Lam last September on a Spectator podcast named after his latest book, Reparations: Slavery<\/a> and the Tyranny of Imaginary Guilt.<\/p>\n Since the church\u2019s commissioners \u2013 who manage the church\u2019s endowment \u2013 announced in 2023 that they would set up the Fund for Healing, Repair and Justice to make amends for the church\u2019s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, Biggar has led the backlash.<\/p>\n In doing so he has gone from fringe voice to one of the most widely published proponents of revisionist theories about colonialism and the British empire.<\/p>\n Dozens of articles have been published against Project Spire, as the fund is known in the church, many by Biggar and people who share similar views, in publications including the Spectator, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Times.<\/p>\n Shadow housing, communities and local government secretary Katie Lam has led opposition in the House of Commons to Project Spire and appeared on a Spectator podcast. Composite: Guardian<\/p>\n Lam has led opposition in the House of Commons, asking questions of ministers and in December coordinating a letter from 27 MPs and peers to the incoming archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally<\/a>, accusing the church of \u201clegally dubious vanity projects\u201d.<\/p>\n The media blitz has paid off so far, paralysing the church and stalling the fund well beyond its planned launch date of 2024. The church admitted in July it also faces a legal challenge<\/a> \u2013 which could add years more delay.<\/p>\n Yet little attention has been paid to the lobbying campaign against Project Spire \u2013 and how it has become a cause c\u00e9l\u00e8bre within the broader rightwing ecosystem. The Guardian can reveal how some of Britain\u2019s wealthiest financiers, including Sir Paul Marshall, are linked to the man at the heart of the campaign to kill the church\u2019s fund.<\/p>\n The multimillionaire co-founder of the hedge fund Marshall Wace has given Biggar and his movement a powerful platform via his stable of media outlets, which spans the Spectator magazine, the broadcaster GB News and the comment website UnHerd.<\/p>\n A devout Christian, Marshall also funded several rightwing lobbying groups and organisations linked to Biggar to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds.<\/p>\n It all appears part of the libertarian financier\u2019s significant efforts to reshape the Church of England \u2013 and wider society \u2013 in line with his own worldview.<\/p>\n A moral reckoningFrom left: the statue of Edward Colston was thrown into Bristol harbour in 2020; a map from the South Sea Company which trafficked about 34,000 enslaved Africans; St Paul\u2019s Cathedral.<\/p>\n In 2007 Dr Rowan Williams, the then archbishop of Canterbury, set in train a reckoning for one of Britain\u2019s most venerable and staid institutions when he said the church should consider slavery reparations<\/a> for its historical role in the slave trade.<\/p>\n It signalled Lambeth Palace\u2019s determination to atone for those failings \u2013 from its distant past to the present day.<\/p>\n His successor, Justin Welby, reaffirmed that commitment. \u201cI\u2019m ashamed of our history and I\u2019m ashamed of our failure,\u201d said Welby, a former oil executive turned priest, in 2020. \u201cThere is no doubt when we look at our own church that we are still deeply institutionally racist.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2019, the church commissioners ordered research into the endowment fund\u2019s origins and links to the slave trade. Its initial findings, published in 2022, revealed the funds partly originated in Queen Anne\u2019s Bounty.<\/p>\n Queen Anne\u2019s Bounty, which was founded in 1704, invested significant sums in the South Sea Company, which traded in enslaved people \u2013 trafficking about 34,000 enslaved Africans. The South Sea Company also received numerous benefactions from individuals such as the slave trader Edward Colston, who were linked to, or who profited from, transatlantic chattel slavery and the plantation economy.<\/p>\n Subsequent work by historians on the newly digitised Register of British Slave Traders<\/a> has revealed how C of E clergymen financed the Royal African Company (RAC)<\/a>, which trafficked more African men, women and children than any other single organisation in the history of the slave trade.<\/p>\n In January 2023 the commissioners published a 25-page report on the endowment fund\u2019s links to the slave trade, employing forensic accountants at Grant Thornton. It declared its intent to set up a \u00a3100m fund to invest and generate returns to support communities most affected by African chattel enslavement. Money would come from the church\u2019s endowment, now valued at \u00a311.6bn.<\/p>\n An independent oversight group was formed to steer the Fund for Healing, Repair and Justice, which the commissioners hoped would attract external investment to grow to a \u00a31bn pot. \u201cIt is now time to take action to address our shameful past,\u201d said Welby.<\/p>\n Bishop Rosemarie Mallett, the chair of the oversight group, said: \u201cWe believe that, like the mustard seed of the parable, the fund will grow from small beginnings towards an expansive future, inspiring imitation and constructive atonement for enduring evils.\u201d<\/p>\n It was part of a wider examination into Britain\u2019s links to slavery: the statue of Colston had been toppled into Bristol harbour<\/a> in 2020, and institutions from the Bank of England and insurance market Lloyd\u2019s of London to the royal family were delving into their past.<\/p>\n But the church was not ready for the backlash that the fund would provoke.<\/p>\n \u201cThe church commissioners always anticipated pushback,\u201d said a source connected to Project Spire. \u201cBut it was unprepared for the intensity and persistence of the campaign waged by critics and media associated with wealthy City hedge fund executives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Wokery is a Christian heresy\u2019Biggar has helped lead the media charge against Project Spire. Composite: Guardian<\/p>\n Among the first opponents was a Church of England vicar who appeared on GB News days after the fund was announced in January 2023, to say it would put parishioners off donating to the church. \u201cWe keep hearing that there is no money left,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd now suddenly, they\u2019ve found \u00a3100m down the back of the sofa, to pay for this. You can imagine how I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n A torrent of similar views has followed, with significant coverage in media organisations that are owned or backed by Marshall.<\/p>\n The Spectator, which Marshall bought in 2024 for \u00a3100m, has hosted repeated criticism, including one piece by Biggar entitled \u201cWokery is a Christian heresy\u201d, and another by its assistant editor Madeleine Grant, which described the fund as \u201cdeeply unpopular, based on questionable history and law\u201d.<\/p>\n GB News, the TV channel that Marshall co-owns with the Dubai-based fund Legatum, hosted Biggar for an interview in which he labelled the C of E\u2019s plan \u201ccompletely irrational and wilful self-flagellation\u201d. Biggar, the former regius professor of moral theology at the University of Oxford, has been at pains to state that \u201cracial prejudice is wrong\u201d, and slavery is \u201cabhorrent\u201d. But his criticism of Project Spire has been unrelenting.<\/p>\n UnHerd, the commentary website Marshall co-founded in 2017 with former Times journalist Tim Montgomerie, has run pieces with headlines such as \u201cThe Church of England\u2019s reparations plan is unchristian\u201d. Marshall\u2019s son, Winston Marshall, has hosted Biggar twice on his YouTube show, with episodes such as \u201cThe Inconvenient Truth About Reparations and the Slave Trade\u201d.<\/p>\n Chart of rightwing connections to anti-Spire campaigners<\/a><\/p>\n Other rightwing publications and organisations have also weighed in. The Critic, a magazine founded by the hedge fund tycoon and Brexit backer Jeremy Hosking, has run seven articles critical of Project Spire, including by Biggar and Lam. None have been supportive.<\/p>\n In 2025 Policy Exchange, the right-of-centre thinktank, published a 58-page paper titled The Case Against Reparations: Why the Church Commissioners for England Must Think Again. Again, Biggar was one of the authors.<\/p>\n Critics claim parishioners are similarly opposed to Project Spire, citing a poll of 500 churchgoers by Merlin Strategy<\/a> that received widespread coverage in January. An initial story in the Sunday Telegraph<\/a> reported a key finding: that 61% might withhold donations if the fund went ahead and money was \u201cunavailable for the support of parishes\u201d. The story was widely followed up, including by the Daily Mail<\/a> and BBC.<\/p>\n But the coverage failed to mention the results of another similar question in the poll: \u201cIf the national church decided to commit \u00a3100m of its endowment to slavery-related \u2018reparative justice\u2019, would this increase or decrease the amount you would normally con[tribute?]\u201d<\/p>\n This time 61% said they would either maintain or increase their contributions, compared with 34% who said they would reduce their contributions.<\/p>\n Nor did the stories mention who paid for and commissioned the poll: Biggar. Merlin said it sent the results of the poll to Biggar but had no further involvement in its dissemination. Biggar declined to answer questions about the poll.<\/p>\n The Guardian understands the Telegraph story was based on a press release sent by Lam that omitted details including Biggar\u2019s involvement and the finding that 61% would maintain or increase their donations. Lam did not respond to repeated requests for comment.<\/p>\n The church has said money for Project Spire will not be diverted from parishes, and that funding for churches and clergy has risen by 36% to \u00a31.6bn<\/a> for its current three-year period, versus the prior period.<\/p>\n Financial linksMarshall has given Biggar and his movement a platform via his stable of media outlets.<\/p>\n Marshall, who was a substantial donor to the Brexit campaign, has become one of Britain\u2019s most prolific philanthropists. Armed with almost \u00a3490m in assets, the Sequoia Trust, a charitable trust he supports and chairs, backs a range of causes close to his heart, including in the Church of England.<\/p>\n The Guardian recently revealed<\/a> how he has given at least \u00a313m to Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), an evangelical church in Knightsbridge in central London that seeded the popular Alpha course, and the Church Revitalisation Trust (CRT), via Sequoia, between 2018 and 2025.<\/p>\n He also provides significant support to organisations where Biggar is heavily involved, many of which are on the frontline of the culture wars.<\/p>\n In May last year the hedge fund tycoon delivered a 48-minute lecture at the University of Oxford on his reflections as an \u201caccidental media owner\u201d. The event was organised by a little-known charity, the Pharos Foundation, which Biggar co-founded in 2023 and of which he is a trustee. It funds the work of young academics \u201cpursuing civilisational or heterodox research in a climate of free inquiry\u201d.<\/p>\n Biggar founded Pharos with another academic, Prof David Abulafia, and the fund manager and Conservative party donor Neil Record. Record has described Pharos as part of a \u201cresistance movement\u201d in academia<\/a>, fighting back against the \u201ccancellation\u201d of debate around subjects such as \u201cDEI\/EDI; climate change; the genetic role in intelligence; trans rights; and colonial history\u201d.<\/p>\n Pharos are \u201cinnovators and disruptors, and you fight the fight for freedom\u201d, Marshall told the Oxford audience. \u201cTherefore you do everything I like and want to support\u201d.<\/p>\n Accounts for Pharos show that Sequoia gave it \u00a3700,000 in 2024 and 2025. At least 10 Marshall Fellows appear on Pharos\u2019s website, studying subjects including the British empire and ancient Greece.<\/p>\n Biggar, who is a paid \u201cfundraising ambassador\u201d for Pharos, declined to say how much he receives for the role.<\/p>\n Another prominent City figure, George Robinson, the co-founder of the hedge fund Sloane Robinson and a Conservative party donor, is also a trustee of Pharos, and charitable trusts linked to him have given it at least \u00a3500,000.<\/p>\n Robinson said he was \u201cnot aware\u201d of the campaign against Project Spire and is not involved. He said that Biggar\u2019s opposition to the church\u2019s fund was done in a personal capacity and \u201chas nothing to do with Pharos, which is an educational charity\u201d.<\/p>\n Biggar was also a speaker at the recent Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (Arc) conference in London, which brought together rightwing voices from across the globe. Marshall funded the launch of Arc in 2023 with a \u00a31m donation, followed by \u00a32m last year, and he co-owns it with Legatum. Biggar is a director of a subsidiary, Arc Research, for which he said he receives no payment.<\/p>\n Sequoia also gave \u00a3890,000 to Policy Exchange between 2020 and 2023.<\/p>\n Culture warriorsBiggar has links to the hard-right Restore Britain, but says he has \u2018no formal relationship\u2019 with the party. Composite: Guardian<\/p>\n Biggar was involved in a similar storm that engulfed another British institution several years ago. In 2020 the National Trust published a 115-page report that unravelled its properties\u2019 links to slavery and colonialism. Biggar was reportedly the inspiration for a lobbying group called Restore Trust<\/a> which was set up to oppose the charity\u2019s so-called \u201cwokeness\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pharos backer Record was also linked to Restore Trust, appearing on its \u201cmeet the team\u201d page until his resignation in 2024. Record, a veteran City currency trader, is also a prominent backer of anti-net zero organisations<\/a>, chairing Net Zero Watch.<\/p>\n Biggar mentored James Orr, the influential Christian academic and former adviser to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who was recently caught in a funding scandal<\/a>. Orr told a Jordan Peterson podcast<\/a> in 2021 that they spent a \u201cfew happy years\u201d together at the University of Oxford\u2019s McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life, which Biggar founded and Orr joined in 2014.<\/p>\n Biggar also has links to the hard-right party Restore Britain. It cited Biggar\u2019s writing on rights and the legal system in a 2025 paper<\/a> justifying its flagship policy of mass deportations. He was among the people thanked in the acknowledgments \u201cfor trusty friendship or helpful conversations\u201d. Biggar said that he has \u201cno formal relationship\u201d with Restore and is a member of the Conservative party.<\/p>\n Biggar has written repeatedly for the website History Reclaimed. It was founded by academics including Robert Tombs in 2021. Tombs said that it \u201cexists to correct historical errors and falsehoods, and that is why we criticise Project Spire\u201d. History Reclaimed says none of its authors are paid and it receives \u201cno financial support from any political party or organisation\u201d.<\/p>\n Legal quagmireThe Church of England\u2019s General Synod in York heard that commissioners had faced \u2018vile abuse and correspondence\u2019 over Project Spire. <\/p>\n Uncertainty now shrouds the fund. Mullally has reaffirmed the church\u2019s commitment to it, including on a trip to Ghana in July<\/a> when she expressed \u201clament\u201d for the Church of England\u2019s involvement in transatlantic chattel slavery.<\/p>\n