BP board fires chairman Manifold over conduct concerns, deepening leadership turmoil
BP's abrupt ousting of its chairman leaves the supermajor without a permanent chief executive and a new chair, prolonging strategic uncertainty.
BP's board fired chairman Albert Manifold with immediate effect on Tuesday (2026-05-26), citing "serious" and "unacceptable" concerns over his governance standards, oversight and conduct. The unanimous decision removes a chair who had been in post for barely ten months, and it lands as the company still searches for a permanent chief executive to replace Bernard Looney.1,4
Shares reacted sharply. BP fell 5.7% to 519.6 pence by 1:47 p.m. in London on the day of the announcement, then recovered slightly to sit 4.3% lower at 527.4 pence by the 4:12 p.m. close. That swing tells you the market had no prior warning this was coming.2,4
The ousting extends a stretch of leadership instability that has weighed on the stock since Looney resigned in late 2023. Looney had forfeited around £32.4 million in remuneration following his departure, and the board's patience with senior personnel has clearly thinned since.1
Senior independent director Amanda Blanc, who will take over as interim chair, said the board had been "surprised and disappointed" by what it found. Manifold replaced Helge Lund as chair in July 2025, inheriting a position already strained after Lund received just under 76% of votes in favour of his re-election at the 2025 annual general meeting, a protest vote driven by conflicting shareholder pressures over climate strategy.1,4
The circumstances of Manifold's fall are now emerging in fragments. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Manifold had clashed with fellow non-executive director Simon Henry and held a fractious relationship with chief executive Murray Auchincloss in the months before his dismissal. Neither BP nor Manifold has confirmed those details.6
Manifold, for his part, is not going quietly. He has rejected what he calls the "false narrative" around his departure, launching a defence of his short tenure and denying any bullying or misconduct. That public pushback raises the prospect of a messy and drawn-out dispute, the kind that tends to distract boards from the actual business of running an oil major.5
The strategic backdrop makes the timing uncomfortable. BP is mid-way through a leadership transition that has already seen Auchincloss step in as chief executive on an interim basis, and the board now needs to find both a permanent chair and a permanent CEO. Will Hares, senior energy analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said O'Neill and the next permanent chair "must rekindle investor confidence in the company's strategy and internal controls".3
Maurizio Carulli, global energy analyst at Quilter Cheviot, called the departure "certainly a surprise" but argued the news, while a short-term negative, should be weighed against the broader picture. That picture includes a balance sheet that remains heavily exposed to upstream production costs in a region where the economics are deteriorating.5
The North Sea angle is worth watching. Analysts have described sentiment toward British North Sea oil and gas as "bearish", and the sector is a high-cost producer in a world of volatile prices. BP's governance upheaval does not change the fundamentals of that basin, but it does raise questions about how decisively the company can manage its portfolio there while its board is in flux.7
The market's immediate focus will be on whether Auchincloss can hold the strategic line during the interregnum. BP's shares have already priced in a degree of chaos, but a further slide would signal that investors are losing faith in the board's ability to steady the ship.5
What remains unresolved is the nature of the conduct concerns themselves. The board has given no detail beyond "governance oversight and conduct issues", and Manifold's denial means the full picture may not emerge for weeks. Until it does, every BP announcement will be read through the lens of internal dysfunction rather than operational delivery.1,5
The next signal to watch is the speed of the permanent appointments. A quick, credible chair appointment would reassure the market; another round of interim fixes would not. With Brent crude at $90.34 per barrel as of Monday (2026-08-31), the oil price is doing BP no favours in distracting from its governance saga, but it is also not the problem here. The problem is upstairs.4