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Before Albert Manifold’s abrupt dismissal, tensions rose over everything from secret deal talks to Wimbledon tickets

LONDON—BP’s BP 1.32%increase; green up pointing triangle ousted chairman clashed with a fellow director earlier this year over the handling of sensitive talks about a potential deal, a sign of simmering boardroom tensions months before Albert Manifold’s abrupt dismissal this week.

In private conversations, Manifold accused nonexecutive director Simon Henry, a former finance chief of BP rival Shell, of overstepping his authority and cutting other board members out of communications, according to people familiar with the dispute.

Henry denied any mishandling of talks, the people said. He argued that Manifold was mischaracterizing conversations among directors, executives and BP’s internal deals team, and needed to listen more to colleagues. The outside company’s identity couldn’t be learned but wasn’t Shell, the people added.

Within weeks, Manifold said BP was streamlining its board. Among the changes: Henry wouldn’t be standing for re-election at the April shareholder meeting.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Simon for his contributions to the board over the past months,” Manifold wrote in his March 6 chairman’s letter. Both men were six months into their board tenures.

Privately, Manifold told directors that BP would still have plenty of oil-and-gas and finance expertise, people close to the discussions said. Manifold had extensive corporate experience and a veteran energy executive was about to join as chief executive, the chairman told them.

Manifold denied accusing Henry of overstepping his authority or excluding fellow board members from communications, in a statement after this article was published

This week, the company’s board ousted Manifold as chairman in the latest episode of instability at the British oil giant, buffeted time and again in recent years by strategic U-turns, shifting business targets and frequent turnover among senior executives.

In a surprise statement Tuesday afternoon headlined “BP chair removed,” the company said Manifold was out with immediate effect citing “serious concerns raised to the board related to important governance standards, oversight and conduct.”

The board’s decision followed internal reports to directors that Manifold bullied employees, was verbally abusive and had mishandled company information, according to people familiar with the matter.

Manifold said he had received no warning of his dismissal.

“I dispute entirely the characterization of my conduct and I will not allow a false narrative to go unchallenged,” he added.

Manifold said that at no point during his tenure did anyone raise with him issues about his conduct or relationship with colleagues.

But relations grew increasingly strained with colleagues during that time.

Soon after Manifold’s arrival at BP last year, according to people close to the company, tensions emerged between the chairman and a high-profile target he identified from the start: CEO Murray Auchincloss.

Manifold made clear to associates, and to Auchincloss, that he didn’t think highly of the CEO, to the point of criticizing his prior tenure as BP’s finance chief, according to people involved in or briefed on the discussions.

Auchincloss had run BP, initially as interim CEO, since Bernard Looney’s abrupt September 2023 departure. The company veteran left the top job with just a day’s notice in December 2025 when BP, under Manifold, announced the hiring of Meg O’Neill as its new boss.

The past several years have left BP investors, employees and competitors marveling at how much upheaval one company—already subject to the forces of a volatile sector—can produce from within.

Boardroom disputes are commonplace, even healthy, at big companies, particularly those hashing out tough decisions under fierce competitive pressure. But behind-the-scenes turbulence at BP in recent years has routinely complicated the company’s efforts to cut costs and boost profits.

Following news of Manifold’s removal, BP shares briefly were down 9% before recovering to close the day down 4%. Some investors privately groaned over what they saw as a frustrating lack of disclosure from the company for such a monumental decision.

The board-level acrimony has become an extraordinary public feud.

Manifold has publicly rebutted BP’s version of events, shooting back with statements defending what he described as his focused, fast-paced work aimed at axing expenses and boosting the company’s long-term prospects.

Manifold has hired law firm Mishcon de Reya—veterans of high-stakes employment battles—to advise him regarding his ouster. Manifold is considering all his legal options, a person close to him said.

BP has previous experience when it comes to spats with its top brass. In late 2023, the company engaged in a monthslong tussle with former CEO Looney, who had abruptly resigned over disclosures around relationships with employees. Looney, a BP lifer, ended up forgoing as much as $40.6 million in deferred bonuses, salary, pension and other compensation that might have come his way.

Manifold has less at stake, having spent less than eight months as chairman of BP, a role paying about £1 million a year, equivalent to about $1.35 million.

The 63-year-old Irish executive came into BP telling contacts that he had the executive-level experience and unflinching personality the company needed from an outsider to shake things up, according to people who interacted with him.

In his previous role as CEO of building-materials supplier CRH, shareholders cheered the hard-charging leader who built the company into a global force with a steadily climbing stock price. Manifold privately described his deep cost-cutting work there as just the kind of medicine a hobbled, financially stretched company like BP needed to get back on its feet.

Manifold told peers that BP had lost its way. He intended to review every part of its global operations, from refining and retail fuel sales to oil-and-gas production and trading. There would be no sacred cows.

BP directors and company outsiders were at times taken aback by how assured Manifold seemed even before he had met with business heads, people familiar with the discussions said. In some cases he described the work ahead as something that should take just a few months—striking people familiar with BP’s operations as vastly underestimating its complexity.

As he zeroed in on BP’s expense ledger, he identified areas that many inside the company, and some on the board, said they saw as important to the corporate culture. Items Manifold listed at the time included the use of chauffeurs and private jets, and blocks of tickets to Wimbledon tennis matches purchased for employees and clients.

Manifold criticized plans for new BP headquarters as extravagant and ill-advised. BP has said it is consolidating its London headquarters and a satellite campus outside the city to combine staff for efficiency. BP doesn’t own a private jet, and company policy is to fly commercially, with private flights an exception, according to a person familiar with travel practices.

The depth of Manifold’s austerity proposals led to friction with BP’s company secretary, Ben Mathews, according to people close to the matter. Manifold has since blamed Mathews as a driving force behind his dismissal, some of the people say.

Mathews’s role places him in the middle of board debates, with his team gathering input from directors and in turn advising them on corporate governance, while also balancing input from shareholders. The job encompasses how boards run their meetings, make decisions and their roles in hiring and overseeing management.

Manifold said this week that he came to BP with the same approach that has driven his career, “a relentless focus on simply making businesses better.” But, he added, “it felt to me that my priorities were not always shared by everyone.”

In his statements, the ousted chair described a company that needed a cultural remake encompassing everything from its global business operations to its approach to expenses large and small.

Manifold also made clear that the functioning of BP’s board itself was part of his BP-rehabilitation plan, saying he sought a “review of [its] workings” to “improve efficiency and effectiveness.”

Those efforts were rejected once and for all by BP’s board at a meeting Tuesday morning, following a three-day holiday weekend, this time without the chairman present.