Diageo boss ‘right’ to quit campaign

Barnardo’s chief executive Fergus Finlay is determined to continue with the controversial Stop Out of Control Drinking campaign despite its funder, Diageo, withdrawing its representative from the board.

The drinks giant is to keep funding the campaign, but Diageo country director for Ireland David Smith will stay off the board after criticism that involvement by him and his employers compromised its independence.

Mr Smith wrote in a Sunday newspaper that he had felt under a lot of pressure from the criticism and complained there had been “a rush to prejudge and reject”. “This pressure was acute, often personal in nature, and at times wholly unacceptable,” he wrote.