The CBI’s long goodbye

The speed with which the CBI dispensed with the services of its former director general Tony Danker last year was in sharp contrast to the desultory and secretive way the employers’ group dealt with historic claims of alleged sexual misconduct by colleagues.

Danker protested after the event that he was made the ‘fall guy’ for events which took place before his stewardship began in 2020.

Now he has been largely vindicated after the CBI reached an ‘undisclosed settlement’ with him over a wrongful dismissal claim.

The former director general apologised for personal behaviour which may have made fellow CBI employees feel ‘very uncomfortable’. But the conflation of his behaviour with past allegations of rape and sexual assault under his predecessors was unfair and damaging to Danker, a decent public servant, his family and associates.

Far from clearing the brush, the outcome of the Danker case focuses attention again on whether the CBI is worth saving.

The choice of Rupert Soames as the next president (he will not be fully installed until June) is a lifeline. Soames is a respected executive who steered outsourcer Serco back to health through the slings and arrows which came with a mixed record in the pandemic.

In the past, the CBI proved a valuable conduit between industry and government and was valued as a voice of business. Under the leadership of Danker’s predecessor Carolyn Fairbairn its credibility was tarnished as a result of support for the Remain camp during and after the Brexit referendum.

That, in many ways, diminished its reputation as the voice of all business and put it at odds with many in government.

What has emerged in the nine months since the Guardian first shone a light on alleged sexual impropriety is that public life doesn’t really need the CBI. The days when the director general could be trusted to sit down with trades union bosses in Downing Street to resolve labour disputes are long gone. Most of the stand-offs in recent times, such as those with the health unions, have been in the public sector where the CBI role is limited.

Moreover, business seems capable of dealing with government and opposition without a middle person.

The British Chambers of Commerce is a genuine grassroots organisation with competent central leadership. Labour was last week able to put on its own grand show for enterprise – charging £1,000 a ticket for doing so.

CBI surveys mainly duplicate the work of other trusted polls such as the S&P Global/ CIPS purchasing managers indexes which allow for international comparisons.

Rupert Soames may find the magic pill which restores the CBI’s reputation and strained finances. But railways’ union ASLEF notwithstanding, the train already has left the station.

Luxury losses

FINALLY, the Government looks ready to take action on the tourist tax.

Jeremy hunt promises a review and the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) is springing into action. It plans an analysis of the costs and benefits of the scheme after then-chancellor Rishi Sunak abolished the ability of tourists to reclaim VAT on purchases in 2020.

Since then, a campaign by this paper, supported by luxury retailers, the hospitality industry and retail venues have sought to reverse the decision. Forecasters at the CEBR estimate that Sunak’s decision is costing the UK economy £11.1bn a year as visitors head to Paris and Milan instead.

Fashion emporium Kurt Geiger describes the suspension of the privilege as a ‘schoolboy error’ which has produced queues outside luxury goods outlets in Paris as Britain suffers. The blunder is self-evident.

Dialling down

VODAFONE chief executive Margherita Della Valle finds herself in the vortex of deal-making as she seeks to reshape the business. Live discussion in Italy about a joint venture, a merger with Three in Britain and national security concerns about key investor Abu Dhabi have garnered all the attention.

But a slowdown in the dominant German market disappointed in the third quarter. Della Vale is upbeat about prospects there citing lower broadband churn and improved fixed and mobile offers.

Unfortunately for Della Valle, investors remain less than impressed.