Ministers have ousted the head of the Competition and Markets Authority and replaced him with the former head of Amazon UK.
The CMA and the Department of Business and Trade today announced that Marcus Bokkerink, who has chaired the watchdog since 2022, is stepping down.
Doug Gurr, who was a global vice-president for Amazon and headed up the online retail and web giant’s UK operations from 2016 to 2020, has been named as interim chair of the CMA until a permanent replacement is appointed.
Now director of the Natural History Museum and chair of the Alan Turing Institute, Gurr’s career also includes a two-year stint as China country manager for Amazon.
He has previously served as a non-executive director for both the Department of Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care.
In the joint announcement, the CMA and DBT said the leadership change “comes off the back of a meeting of the country’s leading regulators with the business secretary and the chancellor, who were asked to tear down the barriers hindering business and refocus their efforts on promoting growth”.
At the meeting last week, chancellor Rachel Reeves said she wanted regulators to "tear down" red tape – saying every regulator “has a part to play by tearing down the regulatory barriers that hold back growth”.
"I want to see this mission woven into the very fabric of our regulators through a cultural shift from excessively focusing on risk to helping drive growth," she said.
Various reports have suggested ministers considered the CMA’s submission to the meeting to be underwhelming. A government source told Sky News that replacing Bokkerink "is a signal that we're serious about changing the culture of regulation in order to get growth”.
The CMA was one regulator named by Keir Starmer in a speech in October, in which the prime minister pledged to "rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment and we will make sure that every regulator in this country take growth as seriously as this room does".
At the time, No.10 said the government would ask the CMA to prioritise growth, investment, and innovation as a priority.
Bokkerink, a former senior partner at Boston Consulting Group, was appointed to the role in 2022 by then-business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on a five-year contract.
His appointment followed an 18-month search for a permanent CMA chair. The previous year, the vacancy had been used as an example of "unnecessary and avoidable delays" in making public appointments by then-public appointments commissioner Peter Riddell.
A press release on the appointment said business secretary Jonathan Reynolds is “pleased Marcus will continue to make a contribution to public life in a new leadership role, the details of which will be announced in due course”.
Thanking Bokkerink for his time at the CMA, Reynolds said the watchdog “plays a vital role in supporting consumers across the UK”.
“This government has a clear Plan for Change – to boost growth for businesses and communities across the UK. As we’ve set out, we want to see regulators including the CMA supercharging the economy with pro-business decisions that will drive prosperity and growth, putting more money in people’s pockets,” he added.
The CMA’s chair supports chief executive Sarah Cardell and leads the board that oversees the regulator's work.
Cardell said Bokkerink had “tirelessly championed consumers, competition and a level playing field for business, as well as being steadfastly committed to openness and stakeholder engagement across the UK”.
She added: “I welcome the appointment of Doug Gurr as the CMA’s new interim chair and look forward to working closely with him as we drive growth, opportunity and prosperity for the UK.”
Gurr said: “I am honoured to be asked to chair the CMA at this crucial time. I look forward to working with the strong leadership team to help deliver business investment and economic growth in a framework of effective competition and consumer protection.”
DBT will set out the process for recruiting a permanent chair of the CMA in the coming weeks, it said.