Yahoo Finance Former Tesco chairman John Allan quits Barratt amid ‘disruptive’ harassment claims
Barratt Developments said its chair John Allan is to step down two months earlier than planned amid “disruptive” allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
Mr Allan said his early departure from his roles at Britain’s biggest housebuilder is “a result of the anonymous and unsubstantiated allegations made against me, as reported in the Guardian”, claims which he “vehemently denies”.
The City grandee is facing accusations from four separate women over what they claimed were unprofessional and inappropriate actions.
The company said that it had not received any complaints about Mr Allan's behaviour during his time on the housebuilder's board.
A Barratt spokesman added that it was “in the best interests of Barratt to accelerate the planned transition to the new chairman of the board to prevent the ongoing impact of the allegations against John from becoming disruptive to the company”.
It comes after Mr Allan stepped down as chairman of Tesco last week after the supermarket said allegations over his behaviour risked becoming a “distraction”.
Mr Allan was due to step down from his role at Barratt later this year, retiring from his board role on September 6. When asked on Friday if it was bringing forward this date, Barratt declined to comment.
This follows the former Confederation of British Industry (CBI) president's decision to step down from Tesco after several allegations regarding his behaviour have emerged in recent weeks. Representatives for the City grandee described the allegations as “simply untrue”.
In claims made in the Guardian, Mr Allan was accused of inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour on four separate occasions. This included one incident which was alleged to have taken place at the supermarket's annual general meeting last year.
Mr Allan faced accusations that he had touched the bottom of a senior Tesco employee at the meeting. He was also accused of having made inappropriate remarks to two other women on separate occasions between 2019 and 2022, and having touched another woman's bottom.
He last week described the claims as “utterly baseless, as the internal procedures undertaken by Tesco prove”.
Mr Allen denied all but one of the allegations, only admitting to having made comments on a CBI worker's appearance in 2019, which he apologised for. At the time, Mr Allan had been president of the lobbying group.
Mr Allan added: “It is with regret that at the request of the Board I am stepping down as Chairman of Barratt Developments Plc as of June 30th, 2023, ahead of finishing my tenure in early September as planned.
“Over the past nine years much has been achieved at Barratt to be proud of. I wish my successor Caroline Silver the very best as she takes on the position of Chair of this outstanding company.”
