The boss of Harrods is to step down subsequent year from the community which represents Britain’s luxurious items industry – one in all a amount of roles he can have relinquished since allegations emerged about years of abuse perpetrated by the Knightsbridge department store’s light owner.

Sky News has learnt that Michael Ward will give up the chairmanship of Walpole, whose contributors consist of the jeweller Boodles, Fortnum & Mason and Gleneagles, when his timeframe ends in 2025.

A recruitment direction of is beneath contrivance to fetch his successor, with an announcement expected in the contemporary year.

Mr Ward, who has bustle Harrods for conclude to Twenty years, stepped aid from a process on the board of the Royal Ballet in September, quickly after the measurement of Mohamed al Fayed‘s abuse grew to change into obvious.

The department store chief apologised in the autumn, announcing: “We failed our colleagues and, for that, we are deeply sorry.

“As somebody who has labored at Harrods since 2006 – and, attributable to this truth, labored for Fayed except the alternate of ownership in 2010 – I in actuality feel it’s obligatory to carry out it determined that I was no longer responsive to his criminality and abuse.”

Harrods used to be sold by Qatar Conserving in 2010 for approximately £1.5bn, making it one in all the indispensable in every other country acquisitions by Gulf merchants.

Mr Ward took over as Walpole chair in 2016, meaning he will desire to stand down subsequent year, primarily primarily based fully on the community.

A no longer-for-income organisation, Walpole has extra than 250 contributors and promotes the lovely items sector in Britain and internationally.

A Walpole spokesperson talked about: “Having served the maximum tenure allowed; Michael Ward will step down in 2025 at the head of his contemporary timeframe as Walpole Chair.”