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Boston Consulting Group has been ordered to explain its activities in Gaza to a UK parliamentary committee as pressure intensifies on the US consultancy.
Liam Byrne, chair of the House of Commons business and trade select committee, has written to BCG chief executive Christoph Schweizer, requesting “clarification and information” surrounding the company’s reported involvement in Gaza-related activities.
Byrne said in the letter that the questions related to the committee’s ongoing scrutiny of the UK’s commercial, political and humanitarian links to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip.
The Financial Times reported on Friday that BCG had modelled the costs of relocating Palestinians from Gaza and had also entered into a multimillion-dollar contract to help launch an aid scheme for the shattered enclave.
A BCG team built a financial model for the postwar reconstruction of Gaza, which included cost estimates for the voluntary relocation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the territory and for the economic impact of such a mass displacement.
The consulting firm also helped establish the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, whose role in distributing aid has been marred by the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians. The firm disavowed the work and fired two partners last month, saying it would not take any payment for the project.
In his letter, Byrne noted that the company had since ended its involvement with GHF and acknowledged that some of the associated work had been “unauthorised”.
However, he demanded a “clear and comprehensive” response to the committee’s questions including a detailed timeline of its work with GHF and the identities of any clients or partners involved.
The letter asks the company to explain which other companies, organisations or individuals were engaged in relation to the GHF. Byrne asked what specific work had been “unauthorised”, when it was undertaken and how it was dealt with internally.
The Labour MP also asked about the nature and scope of BCG’s work on the potential relocation of Palestinians from Gaza. “Who commissioned or requested this work? Which individuals or entities . . . did BCG engage with in this context? Is any such work ongoing or active in any form? Were any UK-based organisations — including companies, NGOs, academics or think-tanks — involved?”
The FT reported on Sunday that plans to redevelop Gaza were led by Israeli businessmen using financial models developed by the BCG team.
Two staff members at the Tony Blair Institute, run by the former UK prime minister, also participated in message groups and calls as the project developed and a TBI document on postwar Gaza was shared within the BCG team, according to people familiar with the work. TBI said it did not author or endorse a final slide deck and said it was opposed to the relocation of Gazans.
BCG has said the now-fired partner leading the Gaza redevelopment work had ignored an order not to do it. In a message sent to past and present staff this week, Schweizer said that, while the work was “not in any way, shape or form a formal BCG project, our association with it is real, deeply troubling and reputationally very damaging”.
In the US, BCG’s involvement with GHF is also on the radar of politicians. Last month, Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to the state department expressing concern about GHF’s opaque funding and its reported ties to the Israeli government. She demanded information on what the Trump administration knew about the organisation.
In her letter, addressed to secretary of state Marco Rubio, Warren asked if the department had been given information on BCG’s internal investigation and, if so, whether the department would release the firm’s final report.
Byrne concluded his letter to BCG: “Given the seriousness of these issues and the high level of public interest, we would appreciate a response by July 22, 2025. I would also remind you of the committee’s power . . . to send for persons, papers and records in order to discharge its duties.”
BCG said in a statement: “We are aware of the request from the House of Commons Business & Trade Committee. We are reviewing the request and are committed to responding.”
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