Insurance giant Aviva has become the first major business to quit the scandal-hit Confederation of British Industry (CBI), after a second woman alleged she was raped while working at the business group.
It comes just over a week after CBI boss Tony Danker was sacked over “devastating” workplace misconduct complaints. The board of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said Mr Danker’s conduct “fell short” of what was expected of him and said there had been “serious failings” in how it acted as an organisation.
According to reports, Danker sent a female employee a barrage of messages, some featuring sexually suggestive language, over more than a year.
Today, the Guardian reported that a woman claimed she was raped by two male colleagues while working at the group. She is the second former CBI employee to make such claims, after another Guardian report earlier this month.
Soon after today’s allegations became public, Aviva announced that it would cancel its CBI membership.
“In light of the serious allegations made, and the CBI’s handling of the processes and response, we believe the CBI is no longer able to fulfil its core function – to be a representative voice of business in the UK,” an Aviva spokesperson said. “We have therefore regrettably terminated our membership with immediate effect.”
In an interview earlier this week, Danker said he believed he had been assigned as “the fall guy” for a wider crisis engulfing the lobby group which is facing a number of claims – some of which predated his time at CBI.
