What do the allegations published by the Guardian mean for the CBI?
The UK’s premier business lobbying group, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has been rocked by allegations of misconduct by senior managers published in the Guardian. We ask what it means for the employers’ organisation.
The Guardian has spoken with more than 30 current and former staff at the CBI.
More than a dozen of these people have shared claims of sexual harassment, including an allegation of rape and another of attempted assault. The Guardian has seen some evidence related to some of these claims. Others have described witnessing some of these incidents.
Senior figures at the organisation have privately acknowledged that there may be a cultural problem at the institution, founded by royal charter in 1965. The group has called off members’ events and the government has suspended engagement with it while an external investigation by the law firm Fox Williams is ongoing.
The CBI has said: “The CBI has treated and continues to treat all matters of workplace conduct with the utmost seriousness, which is why … we commissioned a thorough investigation by an independent law firm into all recent allegations that have been put to us.”
The CBI has confirmed the inquiry is looking at all of the complaints raised by sources who spoke to the Guardian. The investigation has been split into multiple parts: with the first phase focused on finding out information about allegations related to Tony Danker, the CBI director general. Danker has said that he apologises “profusely” for any offence he caused, and that it was “completely unintentional”.
The next phase is examining detailed allegations from more than a dozen women, which are unrelated to Danker. These allegations include a manager sending explicit images to junior
Read more on theguardian.com
