BP boardroom turmoil deepens as ousted chair hits back at ‘lies’ over conduct

The boardroom turmoil at BP deepened after its ousted chair, Albert Manifold, claimed allegations about his conduct were “lies”. In a new and lengthy statement, Manifold disputed reports about his conduct, insisting “at no point in my tenure as chairman of BP has anyone raised with me any issue about my conduct or my relationship with my colleagues”. He also described media reports that he wanted to exert control of the FTSE 100 company like an executive chair as “nonsense”. He stated he had “many other commitments” and had only spent 13 days in BP’s London office so far this year. BP announced Manifold’s departure with immediate effect on Tuesday after less than a year in the role, expressing serious concerns ​about his governance standards, oversight and conduct. Multiple media reports , citing anonymous sources at the company, described Manifold’s behaviour with different colleagues across the company as aggressive. On Thursday, Manifold challenged those reports, saying: “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.” Manifold’s departure from BP came less than eight months after his appointment in October 2025, which came after serving more than a decade as the chief executive of the Irish building materials company CRH. …