City Of London Council Attempts To Reputation Wash Itself By Showering Professor William Pettigrew With Money “For Slave Trade Research”A Second Time

At the end of last month (30 September 2026) the Equity, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Sub-Committee discussed the commission of new research by William Pettigrew on the City of London council’s role in the abolition of slavery. It appears the council doesn’t want the public to know much about this commission although it will no doubt trumpet any research results it views as favourable to itself. There was no written report and strenuous efforts were made to move parts of the public discussion about the commission into private session. The meeting was chaired by Caroline Haines and at item 4 was Commission research into the Role of the City of London Corporation’s links to the Campaign to Abolish the Transatlantic Traffic in Enslaved People and End Slavery, c. 1760-1833. Haines left most of the heavy hitting – or should that be pulled punches? – to senior officers, starting with Emma Markiewicz at 3.10 to 6.18 of the audio only livestream. Markiewicz began by outlining that to date…