‘SERIOUS FAILINGS’

Industry Lobby Group Chief Out After Harassment Allegation

The CBI said recent allegations made against the organization “have been devastating.”

The head of a major British business lobbying group has been dismissed following an investigation into allegations of misconduct. Tony Danker, who was the Director General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), had already stepped aside from his role last month after a formal complaint was raised by a female employee who alleged unwanted contact from Danker which she considered sexual harassment, the Guardian reports. Earlier this month, the U.K. newspaper reported on a slew of further allegations by over a dozen women against senior figures at the CBI—including one woman who claims to have been raped at a staff party on a boat. The CBI said Danker was not the subject of the more recent complaints, but that his conduct “fell short of that expected of the director general.” “The allegations that have been made over recent weeks about the CBI have been devastating,” the organization said in a statement Tuesday. It said there were “serious failings” in how the CBI acted, adding: “We apologize to the victims of this organizational failure, including those impacted by the revulsion we have all felt at hearing their stories.”