Bilderberg: A secret club for the rich and powerful

Earlier this month some of the world's most powerful women and men met in a hotel in Sitges, Spain, to take part in the annual Bilderberg conference.

The controversial group is shrouded in secrecy, leading many to believe that the organisation, which appears to consist of big business, politicians, world leaders and invited guests, is the real seat of power in the world.

Others dismiss the idea, saying it is little more than a networking and discussion forum and that far from being the shadowy power behind the global throne it is no more controversial than any other gathering of public figures.

Yet the rumours persist, some outlandish, others more considered but still highly speculative. Among the biggest question marks hanging over Bilderberg is the overwhelming security and lack of media or public access to the events themselves.

Is Bilderberg a largely benign entity, albeit one comprising some of the key players in the capitalist system, or something more sinister?

The original conference was held in 1954 at the Hotel de Bilderberg in the Netherlands giving the group its name. The original gathering is believed to have involved 50 delegates from 11 European countries and a number of US delegates. Its purpose was allegedly to counter anti-US sentiment in western Europe.

One prominent ex-member of Bilderberg, former Labour MP Denis Healey, has been quoted by Guardian journalist Jon Ronson as saying: "To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair.

"Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn't go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing."

This year, as at previous events, a small group of protesters and observers gathered outside the Hotel Dolce in Sitges to highlight the fact the meeting was taking place and to try to see for themselves what occurs at Bilderberg.

One of those who attended was Jake Bexx, a publican and activist from Telford.

"I first heard about Bilderberg from a friend of mine who showed me a film called Zeitgeist," he tells the Star.

"From there I started looking into things more and came across Alex Jones (a US DJ and film-maker). Bilderberg really stuck out. It didn't seem like too much of a conspiracy theory. Twenty years ago it was because no-one was talking about it.

"Now it's no longer a conspiracy theory, but just a conspiracy. The fact that these ridiculously powerful people all meet up in secret - they say private, but it's the same thing - they cover their faces when they go in and arrive in blacked-out limos. It was like playing peek-a-boo with a 75-year-old banker."

Among the attendees at this year's Bilderberg was Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates, who apparently acknowledged that was where he was going at an earlier press conference.

Bexx says: "I asked Jim Tucker (a veteran US Bilderberg investigator) whether there was anything different about this year as opposed to previous years. He said that this year some really important people weren't turning up."

Bexx joined a number of activists from around the world who staged a protest and vigil outside the hotel. "We went to the 'awareness roundabout' (protest site) at around 6am and stayed there all day taking pictures and video footage.

"The response from the police was pretty good. If they detained people they made them delete any pictures showing police officers' faces but let us keep the rest. I was expecting them to be hostile, because all the cops were in riot gear. There were some bizarre moments, though. There was a six-foot-six, bald, plain-clothes policeman walking around the campsite all the time stopping people."

After attending Bilderberg, have Bexx's concerns been allayed or exacerbated?

"There was a part of me before I went out hoping that Bilderberg didn't exist, that it had all been made up," he replies. "But as soon as you get there you realise this is around 130 of the most powerful people in the world and then six protesters sleeping on the pavement outside. You can really see the power divide. People say that it could just be a talking forum, but I would ask: 'Why would the head of Coca-Cola need to talk to Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands? Why would they meet up in secret?'

"If you had 100-plus celebrities and public figures meeting up in a hotel the press would be everywhere, it would be in all the papers. At Bilderberg you get royalty, big business leaders and politicians all meeting up and no-one wants to know."

While it is impossible to know what influence, if any, the group really wields on the world stage, many attendees have gone on to bigger and better things since their trip to Bilderberg. This could, I point out, be because their "talent" has been spotted and that is the reason for the invite being extended in the first place.

Howeveer Bexx is not convinced.

"I don't think it's any coincidence some of the people who go to the meeting - George Osborne and Ken Clarke attended recently, David Cameron attended in 2008, so did Tony Blair before he was made Labour leader. It certainly seems to have done wonders for their careers," he says.

"Herman van Rompuy (now the EU president) went last year, no-one had ever heard of him before that."

Whatever the truth behind Bilderberg, while it continues to guard its workings so strictly the rumours and conspiracies will persist.

Perhaps this does not concern the 130-plus members of Bilderberg, perhaps it is even titillating. Certainly they seem to no great hurry to disabuse people of their suspicions.