// John Allan has hired lawyers at Schillings and is mulling taking legal action against The Guardian following allegations of inappropriate behaviour
// Allan stood down as chair of Tesco last week as the allegations risked “becoming a distraction” to the supermarket
Ex-Tesco chair John Allan, who stepped down last week amid allegations of inappropriate behaviour, has hired a law firm as he looks to defend himself.
Allan was asked to depart by both Tesco and Barratt, the housebuilder that he also chaired, as he risked becoming a distraction after The Guardian reported that he had touched the bottom of a senior Tesco member at the firm’s AGM last year and did the same to another female member of staff at the CBI’s annual dinner in 2019.
Allan denies the allegations and told The Times he was now “in fighting mode”. He has hired media law firm Schillings and is considering suing The Guardian.
Schillings has asked the newspaper for details of the alleged touching incidents, which it has so far not supplied.
“I’m determined, as far as I possibly can, to prove my innocence,” Allan said. “But I’m conscious that if you don’t know what it is precisely you’re being accused of, it’s very hard to disprove.”
The Guardian said: “We stand by our journalism and the people who continue to come forward to tell their stories despite the significant risks involved.”
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Mr Allan said he was “flabbergasted” when first approached by The Guardian about the claims.
He told The Times: “It didn’t feel like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve been guilty here and I’ve been caught out’.”
Allan said the allegations had accelerated his retirement plans by around six months but said it could have a “catastrophic” impact on careers of people much younger than him.
He said: “I’m 74. If this happened to them at 54, it would be absolutely catastrophic. They would probably be unemployable.”
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