Sacked CBI boss says reputation ‘totally destroyed’

The former boss of corporate giant CBI says his “reputation has been completely destroyed” after being fired over complaints about his behavior.

Tony Danker acknowledged he made some staff feel “very uncomfortable,” adding, “I apologize for that.”

But he said his name had been falsely linked to separate allegations, including rape, that allegedly occurred at the CBI before he joined.

The CBI did not comment but said he was fired on strong legal grounds.

In his first interview since being fired on April 11, Mr. Danker said his resignation letter gave four reasons for his termination:

“I’ve never used sexually suggestive language with people at the CBI,” he said. “You know, there was an incident where someone made a complaint about unwanted contact, which involved verbal contact.

“There was never any physical contact. I never had physical contact. I have never used sexual language. I’ve never proposed to anyone,” said Mr. Danker.

Sexual harassment is unwanted behavior of a sexual nature, says Alison Loveday, employment attorney at Lockett Loveday McMahon Solicitors.

“It must have either violated a person’s dignity, whether intentional or not, or created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, demeaning or offensive environment for them, whether intentional or not.

Mr Danker acknowledged that some employees may have found his approach to work uncomfortable and apologized – but he did not believe his immediate dismissal was warranted.

Instead, he claimed he had been made the “fall guy” for a larger crisis that was engulfing the CBI.

The lobby group has faced a number of complaints since 2019, including drug use and serious sexual assault, which are being investigated by the City of London Police.

Mr Danker said his reputation was “totally ruined” because these allegations emerged just weeks after the CBI announced it was investigating separate allegations of misconduct against him.

The CBI said Mr Danker’s dismissal followed an independent investigation into specific complaints of workplace misconduct against him.

Mr. Danker admits he looked at the Instagram profiles and stories of “a very small number of CBI employees, men and women.”

“The CBI already knew that some people thought that was intrusive, and I understand that,” he said.

“I understand that people felt it was wrong for me to look at their admittedly completely public Instagram stories,” he added.

Mr Danker, who joined the CBI in November 2020, also acknowledged he had written to around 200 individual employees but said it was part of building a ‘rapport’ during the lockdown as well as with colleagues who continue to work from home .

He said those messages said things like, “Hi, how are you? How was your weekend? Show me pictures of your dogs or your babies.”

But he believed some people had found the messages inappropriate, and they hadn’t realized that Mr Danker “did this to everyone to try and build a relationship”.

Finally, he said the lunch and breakfast invitations to junior staff are part of a CBI mentoring program called the Shadowing Program. Mr. Danker said both male and female employees were invited by Mr. Danker to discuss their careers.

As Mr Danker recalls, the “private” karaoke party took place after people suggested it after a CBI Christmas party in 2021.

Mr Danker said he booked a room for 15 that was “the biggest I could get”.

“I emailed everyone saying ‘Here’s the address, no cameras allowed’ because everyone was like, ‘I don’t want to be filmed singing karaoke,'” he said.

When asked why he chose to speak publicly, Mr Danker said he would rather not speak to the media.

But he said: “It’s just not okay to throw someone under the bus and ask them to be the scapegoat when their entire reputation has been destroyed.”

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