Yahoo Finanza CBI survives crunch vote as members back overhaul
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) was given a stay of execution last night after the scandal-hit lobby group survived a crunch vote on its future.
Britain’s self-styled voice of business said 93pc of members who voted at an emergency general meeting on Tuesday backed its plan to overhaul the lobby group following a sexual misconduct scandal.
However, the CBI refused to disclose the proportion of its members that cast ballots despite pledging to become more transparent and failed to win the backing of several major companies.
It is understood that PwC, JP Morgan, Rolls-Royce and BT did not show up to the meeting.
Other companies including Shell, Asda, Diageo and SSE are understood to have voted in favour of the CBI motion.
It was unclear on Tuesday whether Downing Street would re-engage with the lobby group. Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, said: “The issue of the CBI is for them to work through.”
Plans to cut its workforce are to go ahead as planned. Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s new director-general, said she was “deeply grateful” for the “faith shown in us by our members”.
She added: “We’ve made real progress in implementing the top-to-bottom program of change promised by the board and, while there remains work to do, today’s result represents an important milestone on that journey.”
The CBI sacked its director-general Tony Danker in April and replaced him with Ms Newton-Smith after reports emerged of an inappropriate comment he had made to a member of staff.
Mr Danker has apologised for making people feel uncomfortable but argued he has been made a scapegoat. He is now understood to be preparing to take legal action against the CBI.
The future of the organisation has been thrown into question following recent allegations against managers of inappropriate touching and two claims of rape. The CBI has said Mr Danker is not involved in any of the most serious allegations.
An independent review by law firm Fox Williams found that the CBI had failed to sack “toxic” sexual predators and lost the confidence of female staff members. City of London police are now investigating individual claims.
The scandal triggered an exodus of dozens of businesses from the lobbying group, including Natwest, John Lewis, and Aviva, which are all led by women.
One member who was watching Tuesday’s meeting described the performance by Ms Newton-Smith and other CBI bosses as “woolly” and full of jargon.
They said: “The whole thing felt very strange indeed. No contrition. No word on victims. All very much [as if] this is something that happened to them.”
They added that, at one stage, Brian McBride, the CBI’s president, said the organisation had been in “the bear pit” since the scandal erupted and addressed complaints that it had handled its media responses poorly.
He said: “There were things we couldn’t say, things we were being advised not to say. And therefore we said a lot less than we wanted to. We’ve all learned lessons.
“Dealing with the media is impossible, there’s no playbook. You’re learning on the fly, as the fire is burning around you.”
Asked about reports that up to 30pc of staff could be laid off, Elizabeth Warren, who has joined as the lobbying group’s new interim chief people officer, told members: “We’re looking at every single way that we possibly can to avoid redundancies.
“But I have to say, the more of you that return, the less that we’ll need that. And I think the final decision will really be based on this EGM [extraordinary general meeting]. The more votes we get, the more return to membership, the less we’ll need to rely on that process.”
The Telegraph understands that the CBI’s plan to cut its wage bill by a third will continue after the vote.
The CBI said 371 votes were cast in total on Tuesday, with 23 official abstentions, but it failed to reveal how many members were eligible to participate in the ballot.
The failure to disclose the true proportion of member support comes despite Ms Newton-Smith saying earlier in the day that the group needed to prove to members that it was a “transparent” and “democratic” body.
Mr McBride also pledged to rebuild the CBI as a “transparent, responsive organisation”.
Despite members supporting the CBI’s plans to overhaul the group, there remain questions over its future, with many of its biggest members having quit, while ministers have frozen it out.
Earlier this week, the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) launched a new business council to rival the CBI.
“The CBI is responsible for rebuilding the trust and confidence of their membership and that remains a matter for them.”
