Ex-Natwest boss Alison Rose joins City law firm as a DEI adviser

Former Natwest chief Dame Alison Rose has been hired to work as an adviser at law firm Mishcon de Reya.

The law firm said today that she will be advising on the firm’s diversity, equality and inclusion strategy.

The position is Rose’s second role she has taken on since leaving the high street lender, after she joined private equity firm Charterhouse as a senior adviser in June.

Vanessa Dewhurst, a partner at Mishcon de Reya, said the law firm was “delighted that Alison has agreed to join”.

“Advisers of Alison’s calibre and leadership are rare and we couldn’t be happier that we will enjoy the benefit of her expertise, particularly given our commitment to delivering on our ambitious [DEI] targets,” Dewhurst explained.

Rose was famously invited by the UK government to lead a review of the barriers women face when starting businesses, and launched the Rose Review in March 2019, which she then updated annually to detail progress on female entrepreneurship.  

But Rose was forced to step down from the top job at Natwest last year over her role in the Nigel Farage debanking scandal.

Natwest-owned Coutts moved to close Farage’s accounts partly because of his political views, and it was later revealed that Rose was a source to a BBC journalist’s story that reported on the state of his finances.

She stepped down over the revelation in July 2023, but she was later cleared of any wrongdoing by the bank’s board.

Commenting on the law firm’s appointment, a spokesman for Farage said he “wished Mischon De Reya the best of luck with their new employee”.