Fresh setback for CBI as top policy chief joins rival business lobby group

The CBI suffered another blow when one of its top executives joined a rival corporate lobby group after more than two decades.

Chief Policy Officer Matthew Fell, who acted as interim director general when Tony Danker resigned earlier this year over allegations of misconduct, will join Business LDN.

Fell will become director of competitiveness at the London-focused group next month.

His departure comes as the CBI fights for its existence following a sexual harassment scandal.

Rivals such as the British Chambers of Commerce are vying for the place of Britain’s largest business lobby group.

Fell made no reference to the scandal in a series of tweets announcing his departure.

“After nearly 24 years, I’ve decided the time is right to leave the CBI,” he said.

“From the financial crisis to a pandemic, I leave knowing that the CBI will act when it matters most.”

CBI director general Rain Newton-Smith, who took office as director general last month, paid tribute to Fell for his “incredible 24 years of service” to the organization.

Fell was put in temporary charge when claims about Danker first surfaced in March. Danker was later fired after an investigation, but he said he had become a ‘falker’.

Separate allegations had since emerged of conduct at the organization prior to Danker’s joining, including claims of rape.

Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, who served as director general for five years until October 2020, stressed over the weekend that there was a “really good culture, far from a toxic culture” at the CBI.

Last week John Allan, chairman of Tesco and former president of the CBI, was forced out after the supermarket said allegations about him – including groping female colleagues – risked ‘becoming a distraction’.

He described the allegations as “entirely baseless.”