The head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) says the lobby group is on the verge of closing after a series of claims of rape.
Brian McBride, CBI president, said multiple allegations had inflicted too much damage to continue.
So far, more than 50 businesses have quit the CBI since the allegations were made.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said there was “no point” in being involved in the CBI.
Mr McBride told The Telegraph:
“I don’t think you can rule anything out here.
“It’s certainly not our intention to disband it.
“We’ve got some heavy lifting to do on this rebuild in the next 60 days.
“And that’s top of mind at the moment.”
The CBI is currently undergoing a 60-days revue.
Mr McBride added:
“I think it’s likely to be smaller, because we’ll have less revenue, we’ll have to cut accordingly.
“There is no doubt that we will have a smaller budget going forward, because these members are not going to come back overnight.
“It’s too early to see what the size and shape of the organisation [is going to be].”
When asked if the CBI could keep its female staff safe, he replied:
“We absolutely do believe it’s a safe place to work.
“We absolutely have to make this a safe place for women and with women leaders around the organisation, I believe that we have done.”
Mr McBride wrote in a separate open letter to members:
“We failed to filter out culturally toxic people during the hiring process.
“Some managers were promoted too quickly without the necessary prior and ongoing training to protect our cultural values, and to properly react when those values were violated”.
Former CBI members suggest its tarnished reputation may be beyond repair.
One finance director said:
“The new DG is going to have possibly the toughest job in history to try to fix this situation – if there’s anything that can be salvaged.”
The CBI stands for the interests of 190,000 British businesses.
The police are investigating the allegations of sexual misconduct.
