Ousted BP chairman was preparing move against directors

Ben MarlowSat, July 25, 2026 at 5:00 PM UTC

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Albert Manifold was removed in May after ‘serious concerns’ were raised to the board - Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

The former chairman of BP was drawing up plans to remove Dame Amanda Blanc, the company’s senior independent director, before he was dramatically ousted.

Albert Manifold wanted to introduce strict six-year term limits on board directors as part of a major shake-up of corporate governance.

He had planned to present the proposals to the BP board on the day of the coup that shocked the City. The company this weekend said no discussion of board reforms was scheduled.

The moves would have cut BP’s board from 10 to eight members, with Dame Amanda among two non-executive directors earmarked for departure.

She was instead a key player in Mr Manifold’s dismissal in May amid accusations of bullying, which he has vehemently denied.

BP this weekend closed ranks around Dame Amanda, the chief executive of Aviva, emphasising that the board was never presented with its former chairman’s plans and there had been “serious allegations” against him.

Mr Manifold had already whittled the BP board down from 13 members to 10 earlier in the year but was concerned that it remained “unwieldy and expensive”, a source with knowledge of his plans said.

BP has stood behind Dame Amanda, tasking her with finding Albert Manifold’s replacement - Lance McMillan/Getty

Without clear restrictions on time served, the Irishman feared some non-executives would have stayed beyond the six-year recommendation, potentially raising questions over the board’s independence.

Though Mr Manifold was unable to present his plans, board colleagues were aware of the proposals, which were intended to cut costs and improve governance standards at the oil and gas giant, according to informed sources.

The chairman prepared his proposals partly based on external work by Board Evaluation, a firm of corporate governance consultants run by Ffion Hague, the wife of Lord Hague, the former Conservative leader.

Mr Manifold was dismissed after just eight months in post, with BP citing “serious concerns raised to the board related to important governance standards, oversight and conduct”.

The other BP board position the chairman wanted to scrap was held by Johannes Teyssen, a German former electricity boss, who had recently become chairman of the supervisory board at the airline Lufthansa.

Mr Teyssen is also the president of Alpiq, the Swiss energy provider, and holds senior advisory roles at the private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and its portfolio company Viridor, a recycling operator.

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Mr Manifold believed Dame Amanda and Mr Teyssen should stand down after six years on the BP board and not be replaced. That would have meant Dame Amanda exiting in 2028, having been appointed in September 2022. Mr Teyssen’s time would have been up in January 2027.

After his sacking, Mr Manifold issued an 800-word public rejection of claims he had been too aggressive. He also dismissed anonymous briefings that he was guilty of bullying as “lies”. Investors have questioned the board’s judgment in forcing him out.

The 63-year-old was hired to drive a turnaround at BP, and has said that the functioning of the struggling oil giant’s board was a key part of his planned overhaul, stating he sought a “review of [its] workings” to “improve efficiency and effectiveness”.

Claims of a ‘stitch-up’

Mr Manifold was previously the chief executive of cement maker CRH and the first outsider to become chairman in BP’s 116-year history.

Dame Amanda’s influence at BP is under particular scrutiny after overseeing the recruitment of Mr Manifold, and putting her name to the press release announcing his departure.

Shareholders have called for a collective “soul search” by the remaining board members and called for the injection of “new blood”, while one US investor previously called the ouster a “stitch-up”.

Before his exit, Mr Manifold reportedly clashed with Ben Mathews, BP’s company secretary. Mr Mathews is a key adviser to the board.

The company has stood by Dame Amanda, tasking her with finding Mr Manifold’s replacement.

The row has cast a shadow over the arrival of Meg O’Neill, the new chief executive, and her attempts to re-embrace oil and gas after a clumsy push into green energy.

BP is in advanced talks to offload Lightsource, its solar power unit, to a consortium backed by Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund. It is also under pressure to drastically reduce debt levels, which ballooned following the Deepwater Horizon oil catastrophe, and again during the pandemic.

A spokesman for Mr Manifold declined to comment.

Ian Tyler, interim chair of BP, said: Any suggestion that there was an external review of the board’s size, structure or composition being conducted on behalf of bp, or that recommendations on such matters were due to be discussed by the board at the time of Albert Manifold’s departure, is false.”

Tyler added: “As we said at the time, Albert’s removal followed serious allegations relating to conduct and the BP board took decisive and appropriate action.”

Mrs Hague, who it is understood was engaged by BP itself, said her consultancy had not undertaken any work “for Mr Manifold” and that she would make no further comment.

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Source: “AOL Money”