When Marcus Bokkerink picked up his phone on a Monday evening in January, he didn’t know that he would cost him his job.
Gareth Davies, a permanent secretary of the business department, informed him that the following day would be published an explanation in which he resigned as chairman of the British competition regulator. His replacement would be the former Amazon UK boss Doug Gurr. It was not shown as optional.
After months of frustration of the government with the Competition and market authority The ministers had decided enough for growth to support growth that it was time to take measures, so people with knowledge of the incident.
As the telephone call, the Minister of Economics Jonathan Reynolds was in a plane to Davos to carry out the government’s high-growing registration information in front of the CEOs of Big Tech companies and financial services, according to an ally.
The defense of Bokkerink was exhibition A, with which “heads” and “the attention of people could become aware” in order to intervene the willingness of the government, an official with knowledge of the events. “If you spoke to managing directors, you would all think that the CMA had brought around with decisions too long (and).”
After an inappropriate bokker link was left out of the phone, he called in an emergency event by video. During the following hours, several members offered to withdraw two people with knowledge of the events in protest against their view of the government’s tactical tactics.
Ultimately, after almost 24 hours of discussion ,, Bokkerink decided that the agency was best for him and leave.
The CMA, Bokkerink and the Department of Economic Affairs and Trades refused to comment on the details of the incident.
Bokkerink’s finish was followed by months of climbing pressure from Sir Keir StarrerThe government, when it tried to align the extensive weapons of the state with its central mission, to start economic growth.
The first sign that the CMA was in the government’s crosshair came in October when Starer said that this room was going on ”.
Bokkerink was in the room, embedded among managers from Alphabet and Brookfield.
Weeks later, another Salvo met in the form of a letter from Reynolds and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, in which Christmas Eve was sent and asked the most important supervisory authorities to submit five pro-growth initiatives to increase the trust of business.
The reaction of the CMA three weeks later to repeat what was published in the recent annual plan of the agency was considered “particularly disappointing,” said an official. “Jonny and Rachel wrote to all supervisory authorities before Christmas. The CMA of Allen did not read the task properly. “
The government was also unhappy that the agency had released its answer and that the ministry control of the narrative was frustrated by people with the knowledge of the situation. Bokkerink’s distance came days later.
With him, the ministers are already tightening the agency’s reins. This week the government published its “strategic ox”, which sets its expectations in the direction and priorities of the CMA. The previous iteration of November 2023 contained passages in which the agency’s “strong and independent voice” was emphasized. The section was noticeable this week.
Instructions were instructions that the regulatory authority “clearly has to reflect the need to improve the attractiveness of the United Kingdom as a goal for international investments”.
On Thursday, the economic department referred to a speech by Reynolds, in which he announced the Lenk, in which the government “believes in effective, independent institutions”.
Gurr, the new intermediate chair, which is generally expected to be permanent, insisted this week that the group would still protect consumers despite their changed focus.
However, it is obvious that the ministers want the next chapter of the CMA to be less aggressive.
“The regulatory pendulum tends to swing back and forth over the years,” said Tom Smith, a former CMA law director who is now a partner at Geradin Partners.
“For a long time, the competition authorities rarely intervened. Then they started to intervene more often to allow shops. . . That led to excessive market power, ”he added. “Now the pendulum has swung back.”
Gurr told the FT that the agency “has no changes in the basics, the basic mission that made goals, but I would not underestimate how impressive to improve the quality of the process”.
The regulatory authority has undertaken to accelerate the CMA merger investigations – the focus of many business goods – in order to significantly shorten its merger reporting periods and schedules for uncomplicated offers.
The former Amazon manager has had direct experience with the Mergers process of the CMA during the dispute of the Tech giant with the supervisory authority about his minority investment in Deliveroo, which was ultimately cleared in 2020.
Gurr emphasized that there is no conflict of interest with his former employer, which he left four years ago.
The CMA is also trying to put organizational headaches behind the attention of the agency’s merger activities.
In the same week in which Bokkerink was displaced, it turned out that the cartel regulator in the Process of the experiment to reduce the number of personnel by 10 percent After a “budgeting error”. The mistake was discovered last summer. According to people with knowledge of the situation, several people who were involved in the supervision are no longer in the agency.
The CMA has also spoken to the government for years whether some of its less core units should remain under their roof, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.
This includes the subsidy advisory unit, which monitors, as subsidies are given by the authorities, and the role of the CMA as an appellate authority for other supervisory authorities such as OFWAT, said the people.
Gurr said it was “Ultimately, the government was a matter of structuring and setting up the supervisory authorities. “In the past three weeks, such changes have not been the focus of the talks.
The CMA is still in a difficult place. While the managing director Sarah Cardell was in pain to show that the agency takes the government’s growth mandate seriously, the regulatory authority has also received new powers as part of the regime for digital markets to clamp on areas where Big Tech dominated, such as B. search online.
The watchdog Last month, announced investigations as part of the new legislation in Google and Apple. An independent CMA panel has recommended a similar probe to Amazon.
The government said in its new steering this week that the CMA will use its new powers “flexibly” and “unlock growth opportunities in Great Britain”.
“I was approached (by the government) and had two very simple questions, ”recalled Gurr. “What problem do you try and why around everything in the world am I the answer?”
