High-profile companies reportedly discussed cutting ties with the business lobby group

The Confederation of British Industry will step back earlier than planned from its role in a boardroom diversity initiative involving the UK’s biggest companies, as the business lobby group struggles to recover from sexual misconduct allegations.

The CBI had been at the heart of the Change the Race Ratio campaign, which champions racial and ethnic minority representation on UK company boards and leadership teams, with some of its staff helping to run it.

Companies from John Lewis to NatWest quit membership body after Guardian revelations over alleged sexual misconduct

• Comment: As CBI faces an exodus, do we need something to replace it?
• Second woman claims she was raped by CBI colleagues

The Confederation of British Industry has announced it is to mothball its operations until June after the Guardian’s revelations about alleged sexual misconduct by male employees at the lobbying group led to an exodus of businesses including John Lewis and NatWest.

The CBI’s board said it was suspending all membership and policy activity until an extraordinary meeting in June, when members will vote on its future and purpose.

Exclusive: More than a dozen women raise concerns about different men – with one woman alleging she was raped at staff party

More than a dozen women claim to have been victims of various forms of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the Confederation of British Industry, including one who alleges she was raped at a staff party on a boat on the River Thames.

The women, who all work at the CBI or worked there in recent years, approached the Guardian with fresh concerns about what they describe as a toxic culture at Britain’s most influential business lobbying organisation.

An attempted sexual assault by a manager at the same staff boat party in 2019.

A senior manager sending explicit images to junior female staff over several years.

Other senior managers behaving unprofessionally and inappropriately towards much younger female colleagues: alleged instances include a former board member touching a female employee’s bottom and making what was seen as a sexualised remark to another woman in earshot of several colleagues.

A manager propositioning women after they felt he pushed them to drink more alcohol, while they were already drunk.

Widespread use of cocaine at official CBI events.