CBI may change name after sex abuse claims, says new chief

Group could be downsized and renamed, according to Rain Newton-Smith

Tony Danker was dismissed as CBI director general with immediate effect this month and has been replaced by Rain Newton-Smith. AFP

The under-fire Confederation of British Industry is looking at changing its name after accusations of rape and sexual assault at the organisation led to the sacking its previous chief, it has been reported.

The group could also be downsized after a number of big names walked out on their membership, jeopardising millions of pounds in subscriptions fees that comprise the bulk of its annual £25 million ($31.13 million) income.

The CBI, which describes itself as the “UK's premier business organisation, providing a voice for firms at a regional, national and international level to policymakers”, is looking for a rebrand after the sex assault allegations and further claims that it is a toxic workplace.

Its new director general Rain Newton-Smith, speaking separately to the BBC and the Financial Times, said the “root-and-branch” reform required could include a name change, becoming a smaller organisation and changing goals.

“Personally, over time, I’m sure we’re going to see a new name for the CBI, but that’s just the wrapper that goes on the outside,” she said. "What matters is what we do, what we deliver and our purpose."

She said she was consulting members over how to refocus the CBI.

“The CBI that emerges from this is not going to be the CBI of the past, that is clear. It needs to be a new, a different organisation,” she said.

“I’ve always addressed wrongdoing when I’ve seen it and if any of my staff have ever come to me with issues, I have listened to them and made sure they were supported — and that’s the culture I want to build."

Tony Danker, the previous director general, was fired this month. Ms Newton-Smith, 47, who left the CBI only last month after nine years as its chief economist to join Barclays Bank, said she did not feel there was an inherent toxicity.

"That's not how it felt when I was here, but at the same time I, like everyone else, have read the stories of the survivors of rape in the papers from the outside, and I know that something has gone badly wrong," she said.

"I wouldn't be coming back into this job if I thought there were things that I had done or hadn't done or hadn't acted thoroughly on it. So that's what's really important to me."

But the CBI has admitted it hired "culturally toxic" staff and failed to dismiss employees who sexually harassed other staff.

The Guardian newspaper first reported more than 12 women had claimed to be victims of sexual misconduct by “senior figures” at the CBI, including one woman who said she was raped at a staff party.

More than 50 members cut or suspended ties after those allegations.

A second rape allegation, again published in The Guardian, led to another wave of exits, with Aviva, Jaguar Land Rover, John Lewis, Virgin Media O2, WPP, ITV, Sage and Kingfisher all quitting the organisation.