Lord (Greg) Barker
(Picture: PA)Tory peer Lord Barker has bowed to intense public pressure and quit the board of EN+, the Russian metals giant backed by sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
EN+ said Lord Barker, who was the UK’s energy minister from 2010 until 2014, had resigned and would leave following a “short” handover period. The Conservative peer has chaired the board since 2017.
No reason was given for the departure but Barker has been buffeted by public calls for his departure in recent weeks, including from Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
Over the weekend, former Tory Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith suggested that Lord Barker’s position in the House of Lords should be reviewed in light of his work with EN+.
EN+ owns a controlling stake in Russia’s biggest aluminium company, Rusal, and Deripaska owns 44.95% of EN+. He was sanctioned by the US in 2018 for alleged close links to Vladimir Putin. Lord Barker helped broker a deal at the time to avoid an outright ban on EN+’s operations there.
Lord Barker had resisted pressure to resign, saying he had a duty to protect jobs in Ukraine. In a statement on Friday he said: “En+ is a very international company with a big operation in Ukraine. So right now, whatever the optics, in a fast moving situation I have a real responsibility for thousands of employees on the ground in Ukraine. I can’t just walk away.”
In a separate statement, EN+ today confirmed a report in the Sunday Times that it is considering a carve out of the international arm of Rusal in a bid to distance it from Russia and protect jobs.
A spokesperson said: “The group wishes to emphasise that the strategic review is at a preliminary stage and any future course of action will be subject to further consideration as well as discussions with the relevant regulatory bodies and key stakeholders.”
Lord Barker’s resignation comes amid a growing exodus of City grandees from the boards of Russian companies. Six board members quit Russian gold miner Polymetal International today and one quit EVRAZ, the metals business that counts Roman Abramovich as a significant shareholder. Joan MacNaughton, an independent director at EN+, also resigned today.
Last week the Institute of Directors said executives sitting on the boards of Russian companies had a “moral duty” to resign in light of the invasion of Ukraine.
