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Former Tesco chairman John Allan has said he feels like he has been thrown under the bus after being accused of misconduct.
Mr Allan, 74, was forced to step down over misconduct allegations, after The Guardian said it had been approached by four women claiming Mr Allan’s behaviour had been inappropriate or unprofessional.
He told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: ‘As far as I’m concerned there is absolutely no substance in any of these allegations, I’m completely innocent and the Guardian, notwithstanding, decided to publish.
‘We’ve asked them to display more information, contextual information.
‘One of the allegations is that some CBI event in 2021 I said something that was overheard and was regarded as being inappropriate, actually I didn’t attend any CBI events in 2021 and that’s been independently corroborated.’
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He said it is ‘interesting’ the allegations about his conduct ‘surfaced together’.
Mr Allan spoke about on allegation he commented on a woman’s figure at a CBI conference.
He said: ‘Well, I thought she was looking a bit sort of miserable and I wish to heck I had never used the word figure now and I never will again.
‘I think if I had stopped by saying ‘that’s a very nice dress, it suits you very well’ I might not have gotten myself into the difficulties that I have, but it was well-intentioned, it was my intention to cheer her up.
‘Obviously it was an ill-judged remark, it had the reverse thing. Having said that, I’ve talked to many women I know since then and most of them are absolutely incredulous about how somebody could be as upset as this lady appears to have been with what I said.’
Mr Allan was accused of misconduct last month (Picture: Getty)
Asked about the other allegations, he went on: ‘I think it’s interesting that they have surfaced together in one article in the Guardian that after 50-plus years of, as far as I’m concerned, as far as others have perceived, impeccable conduct towards women, suddenly this little clutch of allegations appear in The Guardian.’
The former Tesco boss said the easiest thing for companies to do was ‘propel me under the nearest bus’.
He said: ‘I think companies actually feel under a lot of pressure when this sort of thing happens.
‘One of the things I want to do over the months ahead – and it’s not going to help me because whatever damage has been done to my reputation has been done now, frankly – is I think we have to have a better way of dealing with these sorts of allegations that’s fair to victims, and I think it’s important because there are cases where people are inappropriately treated and I don’t think we should overlook that, but also fair to people who are accused, that there is some form of due process, some form of investigation, before judgments are made about them.
‘Now, I think in my particular case, I think the companies that I was chair of while saying lots of nice things about all the amazing things I’ve done for them over the eight or nine years I’ve been involved with them, frankly felt they had to be seen to be to do something, and the simplest and easiest thing was to propel me under the nearest bus.
‘Now, having crawled out from two successive buses and still standing, I’m going to plan over the next few months to talk to a lot of people who know a lot more about this than me to sort of see if we can devise a better way so the next person who is subject to this sort of allegation is more fairly treated.’
He added: ‘I don’t think I was particularly fairly treated.’
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The Guardian said it had been approached by four women claiming Mr Allan’s behaviour had been inappropriate or unprofessional.
