Ex-Amazon UK boss lined up to chair Britain's competition watchdog
- Reference: 1771854904
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/02/23/cma_amazon_exec/
- Source link:
Business Secretary Peter Kyle said Gurr, as interim chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), had already heeded Prime Minister's Keir Starmer's advice to be more [1]commercially minded .
"Under Doug Gurr's leadership as Interim Chair, the CMA is playing a key role in delivering the government's pro-growth agenda, ensuring the UK is a place where businesses can grow and invest with confidence," he said.
[2]
Gurr was appointed as [3]interim chair of the CMA in January 2025 and has now been selected to complete a full five-year term following an open competition for the role.
[4]
[5]
The appointment may raise questions because Gurr's job history includes a four-year stint as head of Amazon UK. He started at Amazon in 2011 and was China country manager from 2014 to 2016. He became UK country manager in 2016. He left Amazon in 2020 to become director of the Natural History Museum.
[6]FTC to probe whether Microsoft's cloud clout crosses the line
[7]Apple, Google agree to loosen grip on UK app stores
[8]UK watchdog to rule on £246M Post Office subsidy over Horizon scandal and IR35
[9]Here we go again: Microsoft in UK court over cloud licensing
Gurr said: "The government have been clear in their commitment to delivering economic growth and improving household prosperity. I have enjoyed my time at the CMA and can see a clear contribution we can make here through promoting competition and protecting consumers."
The CMA regulates the UK cloud and retail market, in which Amazon has a massive stake.
Last year, [10]the CMA found that Microsoft and Amazon Web Services were using their dominance in ways that may harm UK cloud customers and proposed designating both with strategic market status (SMS). Following a 21-month investigation into the health of the local landscape, the regulator found that "competition is not working as well as it could." An SMS designation would allow the CMA to introduce targeted measures to tackle the concerns identified in its investigation.
[11]
In late 2024, Clare Barclay, who has worked for Microsoft in the UK since 1998, was [12]appointed chair of the UK's industrial strategy group.
The Register has asked the Department for Business and Trade to comment. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/15/uk_prime_minister_regulators/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aZyHvB0_fDDBui0S-G8VMgAAAk8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/22/ex_amazon_exec_on_uk_competition_watchdog_body/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZyHvB0_fDDBui0S-G8VMgAAAk8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aZyHvB0_fDDBui0S-G8VMgAAAk8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/ftc_microsoft/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/10/apple_google_uk_app_stores/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/04/post_office_horizon_subsidy/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/12/microsoft_cat_cloud_licensing/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/31/cma_aws_microsoft_sms
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZyHvB0_fDDBui0S-G8VMgAAAk8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/28/microsoft_reshuffles_execs_in_emea/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Well-oiled door
At least his time at the Natural History Museum will have prepared him for dealing with any dinosaurs he may meet in Whitehall.
Re: Well-oiled door
Was he a friend of Jeffrey Epstein?
Poacher turned Gamekeeper...
At least he will be well-versed in the mechanics of creating and maintaining monopolies.
This will either go really well or really badly.
Re: Poacher turned Gamekeeper...
Most people misunderstand what CMA is for - they are here to ensure big corporations don't suffer from competition.
Madness...
Are we sure that is isn't April 1st...?
To put a fox in charge of the hen house only has one outcome and it is not good. Amazon should be regarded as a danger to national security like Google, Meta, X and Microsoft.
Competition?
Amazon uses all kinds of tricks to avoid paying tax in the UK. These avoidance measures are complex and not open to the average small shop. We see the results - the decline of the UK high street into vape stores.
The government is rotten and in bed with these people.
Re: Competition?
These kind of "tricks" could also have been easily rendered ineffective if jobsworths at HMRC actually got to work instead of suffering from permanent sugar coma.
Looking at his CV instead of indulging in knee-jerk slagging he has had quite a portfolio career and he's been out of Amazon longer than he was UK manager so it doesn't, in fact look like an unreasonable appointment. We keep complaining that UK govt doesn't understand business; that isn't going to improve without making such appointments.
Well, according to Wilipedia, he's a favourite government appointee, as a non-exec director at DWP, DHSC, and the Natural History Museum (appointments likely vetted by DCMS). One might argue that the Alan Turing Institute is also public sector, but I believe they're busy pretending not. Early in his career he did a sting in the civil service. This guy is as Establishment as they come.
Rot
Jobsworths at civil service sit and watch like dumb sheep.
I guess the sacred "me golden penshion" is more important than the country.
Re: Rot
If it's such a stonking wheeze of no-effort and a pension worth billions, why haven't you joined the Civil Service?
Re: Rot
Or gone into politics?
Well-oiled door
Nice to see the revolving door of corruption is as well-oiled as ever.
Regulators become the regulated become the regulators...