The Confederation of British Industry needs an experienced outsider to lead it through its crisis, according to a former director, after the Guardian’s reports of complaints against senior figures over alleged sexual misconduct.
Andrew Sentance, a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee who started his career as director of economic affairs at the business lobby group in the mid-1980s, said he was “very disappointed” by the scandal, which has left the CBI battling for its future.
“A major shake-up at the senior levels of the organisation will be needed to sort out the current reputational problems that the CBI currently faces,” Sentance told the Times. He said the group needed “an experienced external business-fixer to come in and sort things out”.
Last week, the CBI, which represents 190,000 businesses, dismissed its director general, Tony Danker, who had previously stepped aside after separate allegations regarding his conduct, which were also revealed by the Guardian last month.
Danker is to be replaced by the CBI’s recently departed chief economist Rain Newton-Smith. She left in March after nearly nine years to join Barclays as a managing director overseeing strategy, policy and sustainability.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is the UK’s most prominent business lobbying organisation. It is a not-for-profit organisation founded by royal charter in 1965, after a merger of older employer bodies.
It claims “unrivalled” access to government. It also claims to have the biggest number of policy specialists outside of Whitehall, the seat of the British government, in order to support its 190,000 business members, which are the chief source of its income. Its total income was £25m in 2021, of which £22m was from membership fees.
Its membership is composed of direct members and members of other trade bodies.
Its 1,500 direct members are businesses that actively hold membership. Fees vary significantly: top-tier businesses can pay £90,000 annually, some mid-sized companies pay half this price and smaller companies pay far less.
The bulk of its membership comes via trade bodies, and it counts these memberships within its own 190,000 total.
The lobby group has access to the prime minister and cabinet, and campaigns on issues ranging from funding for childcare to tax and skills. Its relationship with the UK government was stretched severely by Brexit, with its access to No 10 much curtailed. A remark attributed to the former prime minister Boris Johnson – “fuck business” – was considered to be aimed at efforts by the CBI and others to try to influence the post-Brexit UK-EU trade agreement.
The organisation sought to rebuild ties with the government during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, including working alongside trade unions and No 10 on developing the furlough scheme.
The CBI is governed by a president and an executive committee, which, in normal times, is chaired by the director general. It also has a board of non-executive directors, which the director general sits on.
Anna Isaac
The CBI said Rain Newton-Smith’s “start date is to be confirmed as soon as we can. Nothing to really add beyond that at this stage.”
Also on Tuesday, the British Insurance Brokers’ Association, a trade body that represents 1,800 firms, said it had withdrawn its membership of the CBI. It is one of several organisations to cancel their membership, while many others have voiced serious concerns as they wait for the outcome of an independent investigation by the law firm Fox Williams.
More than a dozen women employed by the CBI claimed to have been victims of sexual misconduct, including an allegation of rape during a staff party. Those claims do not involve Danker.
The City of London police have launched an investigation, and government has suspended any further engagement, with meetings between the CBI and civil servants paused. The group has cancelled all forthcoming events, including its annual dinner, after the Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, withdrew as a speaker.
It is the CBI’s worst crisis since it was formed by royal charter in 1965. It has apologised to the victims of what it said were “serious failings” at the organisation, and expressed “revulsion” at the stories it had heard about misconduct.
Responding last week to his dismissal, Danker said in a statement on Twitter: “I recognise the intense publicity the CBI has suffered following the revelations of awful events that occurred before my time in office. I was appalled to learn about them for the first time last week … I was nevertheless shocked to learn this morning that I had been dismissed from the CBI, instead of being invited to put my position forward as was originally confirmed.
“Many of the allegations against me have been distorted, but … I recognise that I unintentionally made a number of colleagues feel uncomfortable and I am truly sorry about that. I want to wish my former CBI colleagues every success.”
