{"id":508286,"date":"2026-05-29T07:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/508286\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T07:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:35:10","slug":"the-ousting-of-albert-manifold-they-shot-him-before-he-could-take-his-gun-from-his-holster-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/508286\/","title":{"rendered":"The ousting of Albert Manifold: \u2018They shot him before he could take his gun from his holster\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whatever happened between Albert Manifold<\/a> and the BP<\/a> board, it was disastrous. At 12:19pm on Tuesday, the oil and gas giant issued a statement with an abrupt, if scarcely literate, headline: \u201cBP Chair removed.\u201d This followed \u201cserious concerns\u201d raised at board level about \u201cimportant governance standards, oversight and conduct\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Manifold, the Dubliner who led Irish building materials group CRH<\/a> to a world-leading position, was out of former British Petroleum. This is one of the biggest posts in British business, with a \u00a31 million (\u20ac1.16 million) fee attached. <\/p>\n

The storied company is again on the hunt for a new board chair, the third inside two years. What is more, BP\u2019s newly installed chief executive Meg O\u2019Neill is the third person in three years to hold that post.<\/p>\n

The chaotic merry-go-round at the top of the \u00a380.8 billion group has been likened to ferocious Tory infighting after Brexit a decade ago, when the Conservatives went through five prime ministers in six years. <\/p>\n

But for Manifold and the BP board that sacked him, this is no laughing matter. \u201cThis was an execution,\u201d said the former chairman of an Irish plc. \u201cThe consensus is that there must have been something serious.\u201d <\/p>\n

Another person who knows Manifold said the speed of it all was startling: \u201cBasically, they shot the guy before he had a chance to take his gun out of his holster.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is inconceivable that BP would sack the chairman without a board meeting. Still, it appears Manifold himself was not in attendance at his own board when the fateful move was made. The decision was unanimous, BP has said. \u201cI was removed without warning and without explanation,\u201d Manifold said in a statement. <\/p>\n

He has taken grave exception to claims made in private about his behaviour, hitting out at \u201clies\u201d<\/a> spread about his short time in the company.<\/p>\n

Still, there was no firm indication on Thursday that he might take legal action against BP. The overwhelming nature of the board\u2019s move suggests it has strong advice that a legal challenge could be defended successfully. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Who is Albert Manifold and why has he been removed as chairman of BP?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

But the manner of his sacking was still highly unusual. Companies tend to manage internal conflict with process and planning \u2013 even where the eventual outcome is clear to all sides from the outset. But this was different.<\/p>\n

BP did not reply to a question asking when Manifold last attended a company board meeting. Neither was there a reply to the question of whether the board met on Tuesday before the company declared the chairman was removed. <\/p>\n

As for Manifold himself, it is understood he was called to a meeting and told the statement was going out. Whether that meeting was on Monday or Tuesday remains unclear. His subsequent contacts with the company have been made via lawyers. He is said to have repeatedly asked BP to set out the substance of the board\u2019s complaints, but the company has not done that.<\/p>\n

Still, one Financial Times report said he had clashed with BP company secretary Ben Mathews before his removal. Mathews has been in that role for seven years and was previously secretary of HSBC bank and Rio Tinto mining.<\/p>\n

Manifold became BP chairman only last October after he was selected for the post in July. The appointment was seen as the crowning achievement after a CRH career in which he was known as a formidable taskmaster who led from the front. <\/p>\n

He made plenty of money in his 11-year tenure as CRH chief executive, with total salary payments in excess of \u20ac106 million. But the BP role carried huge prestige. \u201cIt must have been profoundly affirming,\u201d said the former Irish plc chairman. \u201cI can see why they would have wanted him,\u201d he added, saying Manifold\u2019s reputation was that he was \u201cbreathtakingly effective\u201d as a business leader.<\/p>\n

\n

I fully accept that the members of the board have made their decision that I am no longer to be chairman and a director of BP. What I do not accept is that lies can be told about me, nor that anyone should be allowed to hide behind anonymity when commenting on my time at BP<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Albert Manifold<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The task ahead of him seemed clear enough: cut costs with a renewed focus on BP\u2019s core oil and gas operations after a years-long effort to remake the business as a green energy champion misfired. After turmoil since the 2023 departure of former chief executive Bernard Looney<\/a>, another Irishman, BP also needed a return to stability. Now the opposite has happened with Manifold\u2019s sacking.<\/p>\n

No one ever said he was a pussycat or walkover. So BP must have known it was taking on a tough individual when choosing Manifold as chairman. In the world of oil and gas there was never any shortage of straight-talking frontiersmen who go about their business with swagger. \u201cAre BP saying Manifold was too tough for Big Oil?\u201d asked one Dublin wag.<\/p>\n

In the way that large companies work, Manifold\u2019s appointment was in all likelihood overseen by Amanda Blanc, the senior independent director on BP\u2019s board. <\/p>\n

Blanc, from Wales, has been chief executive of insurer Aviva for almost six years. Albeit in vague terms, it was she who set out the reasons for Manifold\u2019s sacking when BP rushed out its statement on Tuesday. \u201cAlbert has helped bring a welcome focus and pace to BP\u2019s transformation. However, the board has been surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issues were not specified but stories quickly appeared suggesting Manifold was considered too aggressive by fellow directors and had sought a level of control more akin to that of an executive chairman. Manifold dismissed that as \u201cnonsense\u201d, saying he has been to BP\u2019s head office in London on \u201capproximately 13 days in 2026\u201d.<\/p>\n

He was alleged in Financial Times reporting to be \u201cshouty\u201d and it was claimed he withheld important information from the board and restricted O\u2019Neill\u2019s access to meet non-executive board members. A BBC report suggested he was sacked for \u201cbullying\u201d and \u201coverbearing\u201d behaviour.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Albert Manifold \u2018disputes entirely\u2019 misconduct allegationsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Manifold has rejected this outright, saying in a Thursday statement no one ever raised any issues about his conduct before his sacking. <\/p>\n

\u201cI fully accept that the members of the board have made their decision that I am no longer to be chairman and a director of BP. What I do not accept is that lies can be told about me, nor that anyone should be allowed to hide behind anonymity when commenting on my time at BP,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it possible that in my determination to drive change on costs, performance, the balance sheet and shareholder communications, I pushed hard and challenged people directly? Yes, it is. But there is a considerable distance between driving an organisation with urgency and the characterisation of my conduct that is now being put about.\u201d<\/p>\n

BP noted his comments, but nothing had changed. \u201cWe stand by the statement we have made. We have a duty of care to all our employees, particularly those impacted by his behaviour,\u201d BP said. <\/p>\n

Such assertions have mystified people who know Manifold. \u201cThe only thing about Albert is, he\u2019s not stupid,\u201d said someone familiar with his CRH work. \u201cIn business at elite level you\u2019ve got be tough but also fair. There\u2019s no secrets there. I wouldn\u2019t have seen that coming.\u201d <\/p>\n

Whatever went on exactly, it was enough to wreck Manifold\u2019s relationship with his fellow directors. He was replaced in an interim capacity by Ian Tyler<\/a>, a businessman who is chairman of Grafton Group, the Dublin-based owner of Chadwicks building materials supplier and the Woodies DIY chain. Someone who has seen Tyler in action up close described him as having a \u201cvery calm and very reassuring demeanour\u201d \u2013 quite different from Manifold\u2019s \u201cthrusting\u201d style.<\/p>\n

\"BP’sBP\u2019s newly installed chief executive Meg O’Neill. Photograph: Jaimi Joy\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

The BP executive board members are O\u2019Neill, the American chief executive in place since April 1st after five years in command of Woodside Energy, and chief financial officer Kate Thompson. In his Thursday statement Manifold said: \u201cMeg, Kate and their executive colleagues are among the finest people I have worked with.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were no such words for the rest of the board. The non-executive members include Dave Hager, American former executive chairman of Devon Energy Corporation, and Tushar Morzaria, British former finance director at Barclays bank. Hina Nagarajan, an Indian citizen, is president of drinks group Diageo Africa. Satish Pai, also Indian, is managing director of aluminium and copper group Hindalco Industries. Johannes Teyssen, a German, is chairman of the supervisory board of Lufthansa.<\/p>\n

This is a quite different board composition to the BP of old. The company\u2019s origins are traced to the days before the first World War when Winston Churchill, then in charge of the royal navy, persuaded the British government to buy a half-share in a company that had oil in what is now Iran. This was when world navies were turning towards oil. BP became one of the \u201cSeven Sisters\u201d, the energy groups that controlled the industry for decades until the oil shocks of the 1970s. The others were Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, Texaco, Gulf Oil and Shell.<\/p>\n

Back then, the BP board was described as something like a miniature House of Lords, with six peers among the 14 directors in 1974. Among them were the former head of the Foreign Office, the former Bank of England governor, the former chief of the Defence Staff and a former ambassador to Moscow. \u201cThe BP senior staff has always been peppered with ex-military men and ex-government officials,\u201d wrote journalist Anthony Sampson in a history of the Seven Sisters.<\/p>\n

The BP board of the 21st century is a different beast. Manifold said he sought to streamline and refresh the board and started to advocate for a review of the workings, but argued his priorities as chairman \u201cwere not always shared by everyone\u201d else.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sought to accelerate cost reduction, simplify the portfolio and strengthen the balance sheet. Where I saw unnecessary or excessive expenditure, I called it out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no interest in having a dedicated chauffeur-driven limousine at my beck and call on the occasions that I was in London. I, like most people, walked, took taxis, trains, etc.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0BP profits hit 3-year high as Iran war delivers windfallOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no interest in taking private aviation nor in availing myself of corporate tickets for sports events. I made my own coffee, bought my lunch in the local cafe … I sat in a small office, eschewing the grand corner-office privilege of previous chairmen. I did these things because I wanted to set an example.\u201d<\/p>\n

For all that, it appears there is no way back for Manifold in BP. It was only last month that he survived an investor rebellion at the company\u2019s annual meeting. Almost one-fifth of BP shareholders (18 per cent) voted against his re-election when advisory group Glass Lewis raised questions over governance and called for his continuation as chairman to be blocked. <\/p>\n

Manifold won out that day but it seems now that acute problems were building up behind the scenes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whatever happened between Albert Manifold and the BP board, it was disastrous. At 12:19pm on Tuesday, the oil…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[127624,39087,39086,79,8298,18,19,17,9951],"class_list":["post-508286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-albert-manifold","tag-bernard-looney","tag-bp","tag-business","tag-crh","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-oil"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116656716619177963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}