On Tuesday, former Amazon UK boss Doug Gurr arrived at the UK Parliament in a suit and tie, ready to defend himself against MPs’ concerns over his ability to lead the UK’s competition watchdog.
Over the course of nearly two hours, the Business and Trade Committee landed a series of blows. The committee’s chair, Labour MP Liam Byrne, felt Gurr’s past as a Big Tech executive could present a “conflict of interest” at the Competition and Markets Authority, which is supposed to promote competitive markets and protect consumers. He noted that in the year that Gurr had already been the CMA’s interim head, the watchdog had not blocked any mergers – a first since 2017. Liberal Democrat MP Joshua Reynolds suggested Gurr’s former Amazon colleagues could be “jumping for joy” at his appointment.
Three days later, the government officially appointed Gurr to lead the CMA for the next five years, in a move that is “very positive” if you’re Big Tech, Fiona Scott Morton, an economics professor at the Yale School of Management, told openDemocracy – and less so “if you’re everybody else”.
