On Tuesday 24 February the House of Commons Business and Trade Committee will question former head of Amazon UK Doug Gurr to assess his suitability for the role of Chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), prior to the Secretary of State confirming him in post. After the hearing the Committee will prepare its …
| Title | HC No. | Published | Items | Response |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17th Report – Pre-appointment hearing with the Government's… | HC 1723 | 26 Feb 2026 | 10 | Overdue |
The Committee is concerned that the appointment process secured just one appointable candidate, denying the Secretary of State the ability to choose a preferred candidate from a range of options. This is not the hallmark of a robust recruitment process. (Conclusion, Paragraph 17) The role and performance of the CMA
Mr Gurr acknowledged that there is scope for the CMA to do more to protect consumers and that the demand is there. However, he told us that the CMA has already started using its new powers. This includes sanctioning eight companies and providing advice to 100 others, across 14 sectors …
Mr Gurr told us that fiscal constraints mean the CMA cannot expect to hire more people, and it must therefore make the most of those they have. Its 4P transformation programme is vital to achieving this, and he also pointed out that investments in AI will increase the CMA’s productivity. …
Mr Gurr told us that he had so far been working roughly 15 hours a week at the CMA while also spending 40 hours a week on his other commitments, including being the Director of the Natural History Museum. He told us that he believed he could do the role …
We are concerned that the Government’s process for recruiting the Chair of the CMA appeared to lack clear objectives for managing the risk of a diminished focus on competition and consumer protection; the need to demonstrate independence from political interference; weak implementation of the powers created by the Digital Markets, …
During the pre-appointment hearing Mr Gurr demonstrated he had extensive knowledge of the CMA and the requisite experience of chairing public sector bodies. (Conclusion, Paragraph 33)
During the hearing Mr Gurr also demonstrated awareness of the trade-offs between, on the one hand political independence of CMA decision making on individual cases, and on the other, the importance of accountability to Government Ministers and to Parliament. (Conclusion, Paragraph 34)
Mr Gurr’s extensive career with Amazon obviously creates questions about the independence of his decision making on digital market decisions. During extensive questioning, however, we noted that Mr Gurr provided robust evidence that he has, for a period of at least five years, separated himself from Amazon. (Conclusion, Paragraph 35)
We are satisfied that Mr Gurr has the professional competence and independence required to be appointable by the Secretary of State to the position of Chair of the CMA, as the role has been defined. However, we believe that a number of risk mitigation measures are now required, which we …
Our work on competition policy and the pre-appointment hearing has highlighted some areas of concern which we believe require risk mitigation measures. We therefore recommend to Ministers that they: • underline in the Government’s strategic steer that the CMA’s pursuit of growth must not risk market concentration that diminish levels …
| Date | Witnesses | |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Feb 2026 | Doug Gurr · Competition and Markets Authority | View ↗ |
| Date | Direction | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Apr 2026 | To cttee | Letter from the Secretary of State relating to the Committee's report on the ap… |
| 11 Mar 2026 | To cttee | Letter from the Chair of the Competition and Markets Authority relating to furt… |