‘Really good culture’: Dame Carolyn Fairbairn
Former CBI boss Dame Carolyn Fairbairn says the lobby group, which faces a series of sexual allegations, had a ‘really good culture’.
Fairbairn, who ran the Confederation of British Industry for five years until October 2020, said it had been an ‘incredibly difficult and distressing time’ following revelations about the treatment of some women.
These include allegations of rape at the CBI’s summer party in 2019 and inappropriate comments made to female members of staff.
‘I maintain and believe that it was a really good culture… very far from being a toxic culture,’ she told The Sunday Times. ‘This is about men behaving badly towards women.’
Speaking of the rape accusation, she added: ‘I do not accept this connection between the culture of the organisation that I created and the actions of an individual.’
Separately, her successor Tony Danker was sacked in March over allegedly viewing staff Instagram accounts and taking junior workers to lunch. He said his sacking was unfair.
He was replaced by former CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith, who has vowed to change the culture.
