CBI has become ‘NUS for adults’
27 April 2023
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In the Media
Economics
Society and Culture
8 July 2024
Andy Mayer appears on GB News
IEA Chief Operating Officer Andy Mayer appeared on GB News to discuss the future of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in the wake of the resignation of its Director-General Tony Danker amid controversy about inappropriate conduct towards female employees.
Andy said:
“At the staff level, [the CBI] is a very shrewd recruiting ground for people who would otherwise be working for political parties or other campaign groups.
“We did once describe it as being the ‘NUS for adults’ because of the degree of overlap between these people who would otherwise have been working as SpAds for a Labour government…often, you will get people bringing those agendas with them and not necessarily asking the right questions or having the understanding of being in business at a detailed level, where those political priorities were not necessarily appropriate.
“We could see that in the reaction of most of corporate Britain, corporate America, and organisations like the CBI to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests; the instant reaction was not ‘are they making a good point, but how is it relevant to business?’, it was ‘we must do as much as possible to be seen that we’re on [BLM’s] side, which has caused an enormous number of problems with diversity, equity, and inclusion being imposed – some of which is not actually helpful towards the goal of being anti-discrimination.
“There, the CBI and the others have been asleep on the job.”
Watch Andy’s full appearance here (24:33).
Andy said:
“At the staff level, [the CBI] is a very shrewd recruiting ground for people who would otherwise be working for political parties or other campaign groups.
“We did once describe it as being the ‘NUS for adults’ because of the degree of overlap between these people who would otherwise have been working as SpAds for a Labour government…often, you will get people bringing those agendas with them and not necessarily asking the right questions or having the understanding of being in business at a detailed level, where those political priorities were not necessarily appropriate.
“We could see that in the reaction of most of corporate Britain, corporate America, and organisations like the CBI to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests; the instant reaction was not ‘are they making a good point, but how is it relevant to business?’, it was ‘we must do as much as possible to be seen that we’re on [BLM’s] side, which has caused an enormous number of problems with diversity, equity, and inclusion being imposed – some of which is not actually helpful towards the goal of being anti-discrimination.
“There, the CBI and the others have been asleep on the job.”
Watch Andy’s full appearance here (24:33).
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