Tony Danker, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, has been dismissed “with immediate effect” amid an investigation into complaints about his, and other senior CBI figures’, conduct in the workplace.
Three other CBI employees have also been suspended “pending further investigation into a number of ongoing allegations”, the group told the BBC.
The CBI, which recently established a new HQ for its North West team at the Sci-Tech Daresbury campus, has been under the spotlight since a series of claims of various forms of sexual misconduct by senior figures began to emerge last month. Earlier this month The Guardian revealed claims by more than a dozen women alleging various forms of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the organisation.
The business lobby group has emphasised that Danker, who stepped aside in March while an investigation takes place, was not the subject of the complaints reported by the Guardian, although it has also confirmed it received a formal complaint about Danker’s “workplace conduct” in January but opted not to escalate it to a disciplinary process.
The CBI has started an independent investigation and hired Joanna Chatterton, the head of employment law at Fox Williams, to lead it. Matthew Fell, the CBI’s chief UK policy director, replaced Danker on an interim basis last month.
Last week several organisations reportedly began revising their membership of Britain’s biggest trade body, with Adnams brewery among the first to enter discussions to leave.
