BP’s High-Stakes Reboot Descended Into an Ugly Boardroom Drama

When Albert Manifold was hired as chairman of BP Plc, he joked to friends the company needed a “gurrier” — Irish slang for a savvy and scrappy streetfighter — to help turn its fortunes around.

The BP Plc company logo is displayed outside the company's headquarters in St.James's Square in London, U.K., on Thursday, June. 3, 2010. BP Plc, struggling to control its gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, should suspend its annual dividend until cleanup and liability costs are determined, two U.S. senators said. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg Photo by Simon Dawson /Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — When Albert Manifold was hired as chairman of BP Plc, he joked to friends the company needed a “gurrier” — Irish slang for a savvy and scrappy streetfighter — to help turn its fortunes around. 

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He took the task to heart. Employees say Manifold was immediately demanding, delving into the nitty gritty across the company and putting staff on the spot, at times unpleasantly so. He clashed with Chief Executive Officer Murray Auchincloss, and then was involved in removing him. But the blunt Dubliner also won the backing of one of BP’s biggest investors and most influential critics: activist Elliott Investment Management.

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Just months later, the former building-materials boss is out, fired after the company abruptly issued a statement referring to “governance standards, oversight and conduct” — but left investors and analysts guessing about what exactly he’d done. 

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People close to BP have offered a range of different reasons for the exit and broader tensions, alleging that it received multiple complaints against him of bullying and aggressive behavior; that he used a personal device for sensitive company information; and that he sought to control the relationship with Elliott while alienating other investors. 

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Manifold quickly hit back, issuing a 773-word statement attacking what he said were “lies” being spread about him, defending his efforts to cut costs, and making implied jabs about the spending habits of his fellow directors. A representative provided further detailed comments for this story, reiterating that he was never told about any complaints about his conduct before he was removed, saying he encouraged and facilitated meetings with Elliott for colleagues, and that the use of an external email address was a company-sanctioned workaround to technology malfunctions at BP. 

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The sudden firing of a non-executive chairman, followed by Manifold’s very public and spirited rebuttal, has transfixed the London business community as a rare example of ugly boardroom acrimony spilling out into the open at one of Britain’s most-storied companies.

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“It’s hard to think of a situation like this; precedents are quite scarce,” said Larry Cunningham, the head of the Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “I don’t think they owe us a detailed explanation, but it does leave us all to put the dots together.” 

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As the details trickle out, the turmoil risks becoming a badly-timed distraction for BP’s leadership just as the company was finally finding its feet after a long period of underperformance. Faced with pressure from one of the world’s most aggressive and successful activist investors, it has been cutting costs, selling assets to reduce a huge debt pile and refocus the business back on oil and gas after a failed pivot to renewables. 

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The psychodrama raises questions about the functioning of the board, which has presided over a revolving door of leaders, and received a black eye from shareholders just last month when investors rejected two resolutions at its AGM and penalized Manifold in a protest vote. The result came as a shock to the company, people familiar with the matter said. 

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Manifold’s departure has also put the spotlight on two powerful women as BP seeks to reassure investors the turnaround will remain on track: lead independent director Amanda Blanc, a City of London stalwart who runs UK insurer Aviva Plc, is known for her uncompromising style, and was responsible for hiring him last year; and Meg O’Neill, the new CEO handpicked by Manifold himself, who has been in the role for barely two months.

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Read: BP Picks New CEO Who Never Lost Her Faith in Fossil Fuels 

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This story is based on conversations with nearly two dozen people familiar with the matter, most of whom asked not to be identified discussing private information. 

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“As we have made clear our former chair was removed as a result of unacceptable conduct,” BP said in response to questions. “We have a duty of care to protect all our employees and as such we will never comment on specific people or situations.”

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A spokesperson for Manifold said: “Albert was never told — not once, not informally, not by HR, not by the senior independent director, not by any board member — that any complaint had been made about his conduct before he was removed. He had no opportunity to respond because nothing was ever put to him.”

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Scandals and Missteps

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Manifold’s dramatic departure caps a prolonged leadership upheaval for the company that once rivaled Exxon Mobil Corp. at the turn of the century for the title of the world’s largest publicly traded oil company. 

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Today, BP is less than a fifth of the size of its American rival. The company has spent years struggling to emerge from a series of scandals, crises and missteps — most recently the failed strategy to refocus on green energy led by then-CEO Bernard Looney, who was forced to resign in 2023 after failing to fully disclose past relationships with colleagues. 

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When Manifold was named as chairman last July, the company was floundering. Looney’s successor Auchincloss and then outgoing chairman Helge Lund had struggled to convince investors even after unveiling a new strategy to refocus on oil and gas. Elliott, Paul Singer’s activist hedge fund, had built a roughly 5% stake in the company and was pushing for faster changes to reverse years of underperformance.

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Read: Elliott Calls on BP’s New Chair to Urgently Fix Shortcomings 

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In 11 years as CEO of Irish building materials firm CRH Plc, Manifold oversaw a more than fourfold increase in the company’s shares. People who knew him at the time described him as brash and hard-charging, with one person saying that at times he kept such long hours that some other executives were exhausted keeping up with him. 

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A top-five investor in the company at the time described him as a straight talker, but said he was one of the best CEOs he’s worked with. Manifold’s drive was crucial to CRH’s rapid growth, said Claus Bering, a senior adviser for CRH in the Nordic region who worked closely with him. 

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“A lot of people find him very demanding, very direct, very precise,” Bering said. “But he was never disrespectful. Some people could call him a bit brutal, a bit demanding, but I’m a Dane. I like it a lot.”

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The recruitment process for the new chairman was overseen by Blanc, and run by executive search firm Egon Zehnder, which declined to comment. In the months running up to the appointment, better known UK business figures including former BHP Group Chairman Ken Mackenzie were touted as potential chairs for the 117-year-old BP, but the company eventually turned instead to the lower-profile former executive whose only non-executive director experience was on the boards of LyondellBasell Industries NV and Irish engineering firm Mercury.

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Blanc herself has pulled off an impressive turnaround at Aviva since taking over as CEO in 2020. She exited non-core markets, made select acquisitions including a £3.6 billion deal for car insurer Direct Line, and managed to appease Cevian Capital AB, Europe’s largest activist firm. She is from a working-class background — both of her grandfathers were coal miners in Wales — and people who know her well describe her as an efficient and demanding executive.  

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When Manifold started in October, he threw himself into a review of BP’s business. He was so engaged in the details that some employees joked about him being an executive chairman. The company’s culture and priorities immediately changed, some people said, particularly with an aggressive push away from renewables and green investments. His demanding and abrasive approach took its toll on staff, some employees said. 

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“The board is responsible for setting the strategic vision of the company as set out by the management team,” Manifold’s spokesperson said. “In order to understand the business in depth, a chair must spend time sitting with the company looking at all parts of the business in detail.” They denied that Manifold personally criticized individual employees. 

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Manifold hit it off with representatives from Elliott, who were supportive of the direction he was taking the company, people familiar with the matter said previously. The hedge fund has yet to lay out its position in the wake of Manifold’s exit. Elliott didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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But he had confrontations with then-CEO Auchincloss — a BP insider who succeeded Looney — before abruptly removing him and appointing O’Neill as the company’s first external boss and the first female CEO in Big Oil. The former head of Australia’s Woodside Energy Group Ltd., O’Neill is an Exxon alumnus who is known for her no-nonsense approach. 

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Auchincloss didn’t respond to requests for comment about his relationship with the former chairman.

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BP did not comment on whether the board held conversations to clarify their respective roles, given Manifold’s hands-on approach. But O’Neill told people close to her at the time that she and Manifold were aligned, including on the need for difficult decisions around personnel and the structure of the business, one of the people said. 

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By the time she took up her post on April 1, BP was showing signs of stabilizing — the balance sheet was finally being addressed, share buybacks were suspended in February to free up cash and low-returning asset disposals were advancing to help pay down debt. Plus there was a new tailwind: profits were rising on the back of elevated oil prices due to the Iran war. Its shares have outperformed BP’s American rivals at times in 2026. 

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O’Neill and Manifold regularly attended meetings with investors and advisors together, and one person who attended said there were no signs of animosity between them. By mid-April, two of BP’s biggest investors told Bloomberg they were supportive of the leadership team, with one noting that Manifold’s capital allocation expertise would complement O’Neill’s operational strength. Speaking this week, one top-40 investor who meets with BP regularly described the combination of Manifold, O’Neill and Elliott as a dream trio for other shareholders. 

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And O’Neill quickly made her presence felt, announcing that the company would restructure along more traditional lines, in a move that continues the reversal of changes made under Looney. 

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But there were also signs of trouble brewing. 

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BP angered a number of investors by refusing to include a resolution from activist climate investor group Follow This in its AGM materials, claiming that it didn’t meet the legal requirements — a position the group disputed. A number of other investors criticized the company and proxy adviser Glass Lewis recommended shareholders vote against Manifold’s election at the meeting because of the concerns raised over transparency and corporate governance. 

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The company received a significant protest vote at the meeting — two of its own proposals that would have allowed fully virtual annual meetings and revoked previously approved climate related disclosure obligations were rejected. Just under 82% of shareholders voted in favor of Manifold’s election — a clear rebuke as directors typically receive approvals close to 100%.

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BP was surprised by the results of the vote, and Manifold appeared angry with the outcome, some people said. Tensions in the board appeared to increase after the AGM, they said. Manifold’s representative denied this. 

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People close to BP described a recent clash between Manifold and company secretary Ben Mathews, who is currently on leave. They didn’t specify what the confrontation was about, but the company secretary’s role includes advising the board on process and corporate governance as part of its deliberation and decision making. 

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A spokesperson for Manifold said: “Mr Manifold did not clash with Ben Mathews. They spoke almost every day, worked closely together and had a strong professional relationship. Mr Mathews publicly expressed his support of Mr Manifold in his role on a number of occasions, including to third parties in recent weeks.”

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A person who worked in a previous role with Mathews described him as highly competent and a consummate professional, who made sure there were no surprises at board meetings, and was able to deal with big egos. 

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In meetings with shareholders this week, Blanc and interim Chairman Ian Tyler said that the company received a serious complaint about Manifold’s behavior last week, which triggered the process that resulted in his removal, but gave little other detail, one investor said. They said they knew going in that Manifold was brash and hard-nosed but that the situation had gone too far. 

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On Tuesday, the board decided unanimously to remove Manifold, the company said in its statement. Director Ian Tyler was named interim chair and the company will start a process to find a permanent replacement. 

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Manifold has hired law firm Mishcon de Reya, a person close to him said. The spokesperson said on Saturday that he hasn’t made any decisions about legal action. 

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The risk now is that the public spat becomes a distraction for BP’s leadership as it seeks to turn around the troubled company. 

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Bloomberg spoke with five of BP’s top 40 investors this week, who almost uniformly said they were focused on the company’s strategy and execution. Most said they didn’t expect that would change as a result of Manifold’s exit, although at least one expressed concern about whether his loss would leave a hole. 

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“We like Meg O’Neill,” said Brian Kersmanc, a portfolio manager at GQG Partners, which says it holds over 290 million shares in BP. “Her focus is on cost cutting and restructuring initiatives regardless of changes at the chairman level.”

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—With assistance from Thomas Biesheuvel, Jeff Green, Jack Wittels, Alex Longley, Swetha Gopinath, Jack Ryan and Stephen Stapczynski.

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