Tory peer Lord Marland ‘in the running’ to chair competition watchdog
Tory grandee Lord Marland is said to be in the running to become the next chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in what could be the latest political appointment by Boris Johnson.
Lord Marland, a former Conservative minister, is one of several names being circulated at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis), Sky News reported.
The government is looking to appoint a successor to Lord Tyrie, also a former Tory MP, who stepped down as CMA chair last year citing the “limits” of the role.
Reports later emerged that Tyrie had clashed with boss Andrea Coscelli over the chair’s reformist agenda and was ousted in a boardroom coup. The regulator has since been led by interim chair Jonathan Scott.
Sources told the broadcaster that the recruitment process was still “fluid” and no frontrunner for the role had yet emerged.
If Marland is appointed, it would be the latest example of Boris Johnson’s government appointing political allies to key public roles.
Former Daily Mail editor has been widely mooted as the preferred choice to chair Ofcom, while former Goldman Sachs banker and Tory donor Richard Sharp was recently appointed as the BBC’s new chair.
Marland held several ministerial roles in the business and energy departments during David Cameron’s tenure as prime minister. He is now chair of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, a not-for-profit body promoting trade and investment across the 54 member states.
He was one of the founders of insurance group Jardine Lloyd Thompson and holds a number of other non-executive roles, including as chair of the Guggenheim UK Charitable Trust.
The appointment will come at a crucial time for the CMA, which is adapting to its expanded powers following Brexit and gearing up for a regulatory crackdown on Big Tech.
Beis declined to comment.