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The boss of JD Wetherspoon has emerged as an unlikely champion of corporate diversity amid a clampdown on “woke companies” by Donald Trump.
Sir Tim Martin, founder and chairman of the pub chain, said that corporate diversity policies have been “politicised and weaponised” and called for common sense on the topic, which has become a flashpoint in the culture wars.
Mr Trump has scrapped diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the US government and vowed to single out “woke companies” that maintain such policies. It has prompted a string of businesses to either water down or scrap DEI schemes.
However, Sir Tim said: “Diversity is an excellent principle if interpreted sensibly, but it’s become politicised and weaponised, so common sense is in short supply.
“You shouldn’t adopt inflexible diversity quotas to keep the corporate governance lobby happy – and you shouldn’t ditch your sensible diversity policies just because Donald says so.”
His support for diversity policies will surprise many given he has chafed at many corporate governance norms in the past. He has previously criticised City guidelines recommending non-executives leave after nine years as “destabilising” and “up the spout”. Sir Tim has in the past also said that boardrooms have become “havens of wokery and political correctness”.
While Sir Tim defended the principle of diversity in business, he insisted JD Wetherspoon did not “impose” policies and instead considered it “a natural process”.
He said: “I think our staff and customers just reflect the nature of the communities in which we trade. No disrespect to Joe Biden or Donald Trump, but they haven’t had much influence on our policies.
“The difficulties multinational companies have in staying on the right side of popular opinion shouldn’t be underestimated, but understated policies may generally be preferable to virtue-signalling in sensitive areas.”
JD Wetherspoon has one female director along side 11 men on its board. Around 40pc of senior managers are women, according to its 2024 annual report. In recent years the company has added “worker directors” from different backgrounds.
The company has also established LGBTQIA+ mental health and wellbeing “network group” alongside ones for race and gender to “foster discussion and generate ideas about these issues”.
An inclusive employer
The pub group was last year ranked among 850 European companies considered to be leaders in inclusion and equality policies by the Financial Times.
While many companies have about-turned on diversity policies since Mr Trump’s election, British businesses have proved more reluctant. This has led to a transatlantic divide in some international businesses.