Rain Newton-Smith, the new director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), is set to face MPs’ questions on Tuesday over whether the group can appropriately represent businesses.
The group is currently in the midst of a sexual misconduct scandal after rape allegations were made by members of staff about senior figures within the organisation. This has led to businesses ending their association with the CBI. Ms Newton-Smith previouslty said is “profoundly sorry” to women who have been let down.
The scandal has left the future of the CBI, which claims to represent 190,000 businesses and lobbies the Government on their behalf, in crisis. Furthermore, the CBI’s decision to hire someone who was on the company’s executive committee during the time of the misconduct allegations has raised some eyebrows.
Labour’s Darren Jones told the Guardian: “Are they going to be able to represent the interests of bigger businesses in the UK, given the number of members who have recently left and the recent competition from other lobby groups? We will also be asking what failings have they found within their organisation.”
Who is Rain Newton-Smith?
Before taking the reins at the CBI, Ms Newton-Smith followed the well-trodden path of high-profile economists and politicians by gaining a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE) at Oxford University, before completing a master’s at the London School of Economics.
The 47-year-old, whose Twitter bio describes her as a “reformed chief economist” and a “mother of four enquiring minds”, then spent nine years at the Bank of England, where she prepared global forecast reports for the central bank’s rate-setting committee.
After leaving the bank, she went on to lead the emerging markets division at the Oxford Economics consultancy specialising in the Chinese economy, before joining the CBI as chief economist from August 2014 to March this year.
She left last month to join the lender Barclays as a managing director, responsible for strategy and policy, sustainability and environment, social and governance (ESG).
But, after being asked to lead the business group in the midst of an existential crisis, she left the bank after just a month in the job.
Having held a senior role at the organisation before her departure, she has the difficult task of convincing critics that she can reform the lobby group.
Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, Baroness Morrissey, a long-serving financier, said: “I’m sure she is wonderful in lots of respects but it doesn’t quite cut the mustard if you’re trying to show that you’re embracing a new approach to all of this.”
Asked if she thought the CBI was finished, she said: “I do, I’m afraid.”
