British Museum Trustees Raised Ethical and Security Concerns Before Approving £50 M. BP Deal

British Museum trustees were concerned about accepting a £50 million ($63.3 million) sponsorship deal with BP which that was announced this week, despite behind-the-scenes ethical and safety concerns from trustees.

On Thursday, quotations from eight sets of minutes for meetings held between June and November were published by the Art Newspaper. According to the report, June 1 was the first time that the BP deal was discussed. At this point, certain board members said there were conflicts of interest: George Osborne, chair of the board, is partner of an investment banking firm which is used by BP; two other board members also claimed connections to BP.

On June 29, there was a more detailed discussion regarding the BP deal, in which Osborne didn’t participate. “Some trustees indicated strong personal disagreement about accepting money from companies in the sponsor’s line of business, but resolved that these were not such as to require them to recuse themselves from acting as trustees in the decision to be made,” read the minutes, as quoted by the Art Newspaper.

At other meetings, people on staff at the institution raised the possibility that the collection could become endangered by protests that would result from the BP deal. David Bilson, head of security, cautioned in November that “the risk of an attempt to damage the collection might be heightened following the announcement of the corporate sponsorship under discussion and could not be fully avoided without inhibiting public access to the collection.” There had been a climate protest at the National Gallery earlier that month.

The announcement of the BP deal was made on Tuesday. The funding, which will be released over the course of ten years, will be used for the refurbishment and redisplay of the museum’s permanent collection.

The British Museum has had a longstanding history with BP, which has supported the museum since 1996. Not only did the oil company sponsor exhibitions, but it also funded a theater space at the museum in 2000.

Activists have repeatedly protested BP’s financial ties to the British Museum, urging the institution to drop the oil company as a funder through actions staged within the galleries regularly. In June, reports emerged that the British Museum had finally severed ties with BP, but a museum spokesperson denied this.

Museums funded by BP, such as the Tate, London’s National Portrait Gallery, and the British Museum have been the subject of climate-related protests.