CBI: So-called wide-member church begins to leak

The voice of British industry turns into a whisper. CBI members are in the process of bailing out, following allegations of sexual assault at the corporate lobby group. On Friday, household names including carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, retailer John Lewis and FTSE 100 insurer Aviva join the exodus.

The loss of members and access to senior government officials cast doubt on the very survival of the CBI. That, in turn, raises questions about who stands to lose from any cuts in its lobbying efforts. The CBI says it speaks on behalf of more than 190,000 companies. However, the vast majority of them are members of associations which are themselves members of the CBI. The largest is the National Farmers Union, with 46,000 members. The CBI refuses to say how many direct members it has. An oft-cited number of 1,500 is outdated, he says.

Lex’s efforts only succeeded in identifying 32 associations representing 169,000 individual businesses. The task is further complicated by the fact that some of CBI’s member associations also offer their own association memberships. The building industry representative, the Construction Products Association, for example, has 121 direct members. It has 40 associations which are also members. These should also be included in the overall CBI figure.

A clue to the number of direct members could be found in the companies that form the board of the CBI, the main governance body. This list includes some 700 companies. It reads like a Who’s Who of big business, from the biggest FTSE companies to big US tech.

This core group is probably responsible for most of the roughly £20million a year the CBI collects in subscription revenue. A small CBI Member Association has revealed they only pay £9,000 a year. This allows them to attend a few panels.

Claims that the CBI provides a broad voice for UK business do not entirely add up. Yet it is difficult to reconcile the views of a large number of diverse members. The CBI – or any successor organization to it – will continue to face complaints about restricted access to the corridors of power.