Signs by the lifts in the Canary Wharf headquarters of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) remind staff not to talk about their work in public, given the billions of pounds resting on its decisions.
But a very public debate is taking place about how the competition watchdog works and is run, with the Labour government determined to make an example of it.
In October the prime minister rebuked regulators in front of global business leaders for “needlessly holding back the investment we need to take our country forward”.
In January they were hauled into 10 to explain how they would support the government’s growth ambitions.
Then days later, the government defenestrated the CMA’s chair, Marcus Bokkerink, replacing him with the former head of Amazon in the UK, Doug Gurr.
Two and a bit years since she became chief executive of the watchdog, Sarah Cardell and her organisation are under the spotlight like never before.
Britain’s chief trustbuster is sitting in a meeting room at the CMA’s head office after a whirlwind morning of broadcast interviews about its latest intervention, this time in the market for baby milk formula.
It demanded change...
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