The Confederation of British Industry fired its director general, Tony Danker, after Britain’s biggest business lobby group was rocked by a slew of sexual misconduct allegations.
(Bloomberg) — The Confederation of British Industry fired its director general, Tony Danker, after Britain’s biggest business lobby group was rocked by a slew of sexual misconduct allegations.
Danker was dismissed with immediate effect following a probe into workplace misbehavior, the CBI said Tuesday in a statement. The group named its former chief economist, Rain Newton-Smith, as its new director general.
The CBI is reeling from a series of allegations that prompted concern from British businesses it represents and led the UK government to pause engagement with the group. Danker stepped back last month at the start of a probe by law firm Fox Williams LLP.
Since then, the Guardian newspaper published details of different allegations of sexual harassment — unrelated to the Danker case — from more than a dozen women who’ve worked at the CBI, including from one who claimed she was raped at a staff party on a boat on the River Thames.
“The allegations that have been made over recent weeks about the CBI have been devastating,” the lobby group’s board said. “While investigations continue into a number of these, it is already clear to all of us that there have been serious failings in how we have acted as an organization. We must do better, and we must be better.”
Fallout
The board reiterated that Danker isn’t the subject of any of the more recent claims in the Guardian, but said that his conduct fell short of that expected of the leader of the group.
Danker, for his part, said on Twitter he was appalled to learn last week of the “awful events” that occurred before his time in office. While acknowledging he’d made colleagues uncomfortable, he said many of the allegations against him had been “distorted” and that he was shocked to learn of his dismissal “instead of being invited to put my position forward as was originally confirmed.”
The new claims in the Guardian last week prompted some of the CBI’s biggest members to publicly voice their concerns. Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc said it would await the outcome of the probe before considering its membership, while grocer Marks & Spencer Group Plc said it had written to the CBI to request further information.
The UK government later sought to distance itself from the CBI, with the Treasury postponing meetings and the Department for Business and Trade postponing ministerial engagement.
UK Ministers Stop Meetings With CBI Following Rape Claim
“We apologize to the victims of this organizational failure, including those impacted by the revulsion we have all felt at hearing their stories,” the CBI said Tuesday, adding that it’s liaising with the police and would cooperate fully with any investigations. “Nobody should feel unsafe in their workplace.”
The lobby group announced further moves to resolve the crisis. Jill Ader, a board member and formerly global chair of the executive search firm Egon Zehnder, will oversee a review of the organization’s culture and government. A new chief people officer will also be appointed, with HR director Lauren Adams filling the role on an interim basis.
Three other employees have been suspended pending further investigations into a number of other allegations, the CBI said, without identifying them.
Newton-Smith, who left the CBI last month, currently holds a senior role at Barclays Plc, where she is managing director for strategy, policy, sustainability and ESG.
(Updates with Danker statement starting in seventh paragraph.)
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