The CBI has dismissed director general, Tony Danker, with ‘immediate effect’ following an investigation into complaints about his conduct while three other CBI employees have also been suspended pending further probes into allegations.

Danker, who stepped aside in March, will be replaced by Rain Newton-Smith, the group’s former chief economist.

In a statement, the CBI board said: ‘The allegations that have been made over recent weeks about the CBI have been devastating. While investigations continued into a number of these, it is already clear to all of us that there have been serious failings in how we have acted as an organisation. We must do better, and we must be better.’

The CBI hired employment law firm Fox Williams to head up an investigation into Danker about a formal complaint by a female employee that was made in January.