The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to open a new office in London. According to the Washington Post (14 August), this is ‘part of a recent effort by the giant philanthropy to build closer ties to European governments and global aid organizations’. It is also ‘part of a recent effort by the Gates Foundation to build up its public policy arm’. In January 2008 the foundation hired Geoffrey Lamb to be its first managing director for public policy.

Joe Cerrell, now director of global health policy and advocacy at the foundation, will move to London in January 2010 to lead the UK-based team, which is expected to consist of around ten staff members. The Gates Foundation already has offices in Washington DC, Delhi and Beijing in addition to its global headquarters in Seattle.