CBI to be renamed in wake of scandal, says new boss
The Confederation of British Industry will be renamed in the wake of the crisis that has engulfed the organisation after multiple sexual misconduct allegations, its new boss has said.
Rain Newton-Smith, who took over as director general on Wednesday, said a rebranding of the CBI would be a necessary part of attempts to rebuild trust after more than 50 large businesses, including John Lewis and NatWest, suspended or cancelled their membership.
“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. What matters is what we do, what we deliver and our purpose,” Newton-Smith told the Financial Times.
“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.”
In a separate interview, she told the BBC she had raised concerns over sexual harassment when she previously worked at the CBI.
“Whenever I have seen sexual harassment, I have acted and I raised those issues,” she said. “I supported staff who needed to raise them, and I think that’s … absolutely critically important,” 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.”
Newton-Smith said she did not feel there had been a toxic culture at the group during her previous term.
“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 told the BBC.
Newton-Smith replaces Tony Danker, who was sacked as director general earlier this month after
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