London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Tesco chairman John Allan to quit after claims over behaviour

Tesco chairman John Allan to quit after claims over behaviour

John Allan is stepping down as chairman of Tesco following allegations over his conduct.
Mr Allan, who is also a former president of the CBI business lobby group, has strongly denied three of four claims made against him.

However, board member Byron Grote, who will temporarily replace Mr Allan as chairman, said: "These allegations risk becoming a distraction to Tesco."

Tesco said it had made "no findings of wrongdoing".

Mr Allan will leave Tesco in June after eight years in the role.

He said: "It is with regret that I am having to prematurely stand down from my position as chair of Tesco following the anonymous and unsubstantiated allegations made against me, as reported by the Guardian."

A report in the Guardian had claimed that Mr Allan had touched a Tesco employee at the supermarket giant's annual shareholder meeting last year.

It also alleged that Mr Allan "grabbed" an employee at a CBI event in 2019. He has previously said these claims were "simply untrue".

It is also claimed that he made a comment about a CBI staff member's dress and bottom in 2021. Mr Allan said he does not recall this incident.

He has, however, admitted to making a comment to a female CBI worker in late 2019 about a dress suiting her figure.

Mr Allan said he was "mortified after making the comment" and immediately apologised.

He was president of the CBI between 2018 and 2020 and spent an additional year as vice president.

Following claims he inappropriately touched a Tesco staff member, the supermarket group said it began an "extensive review of the allegation".

The retailer said it had asked colleagues "to come forward if they had concerns regarding any conduct issues and specifically at the Tesco 2022 annual general meeting (AGM)".

It also reviewed video of the event as well as its internal complaints records.

Mr Grote said: "While we have received no complaints about John's conduct and made no findings of wrongdoing, these allegations risk becoming a distraction to Tesco.

"On behalf of the board, I thank him for his substantial contribution to the business," he added.

Mr Allan said: "These allegations are utterly baseless, as the internal procedures undertaken by Tesco prove.

"There is no evidence of any wrongdoing at that time or at any stage of my chairmanship at Tesco and I remain determined to prove my innocence."

Meanwhile, the CBI, which is Britain's biggest lobby group, is facing separate allegations of sexual misconduct.

These include two allegations of rape that are being investigated by the City of London Police.

Following an external investigation by law firm Fox Williams, the CBI admitted that it hired "culturally toxic" staff and failed to fire people who sexually harassed female colleagues.

It has since dismissed some staff members.

It has also appointed its former chief economist Rain Newton-Smith as director general.

She has replaced Tony Danker who was fired in April following separate complaints of workplace misconduct.

Mr Danker has acknowledged he had made some staff feel "very uncomfortable". He said: "I apologise for that."

But he said his name had been wrongly associated with separate claims, including rape, that allegedly occurred at the CBI before he joined.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×