aSelon Musk laughed at Oval Office, one of the UK's most influential technology investors. “He's absolutely horrible. I've said that many times: I think it's horrible what's going on,” says Martha Lane Fox.

For British peers and former Twitter board members, the musk view from Donald Trump's White House bully's pulpit shows that Silicon Valley's dreams have turned sour.

“The wealthiest man in the world who can stand there with the president, and Cult Blanche Please joke about how he carves out people's work in government. He can then be there with a chainsaw laughing on stage…

“It's really, really unsettling and I find it very uncomfortable on a value-based level. It makes me very worried. I think it's gross.”

In an interview with observer To mark International Women's Day, the UK Chamber of Commerce (BCC) president warned against a pushback of diversity that Trump and his technological peers not only hurt society, but also the economy as a whole.

Since he returned to the White House, the US President has shut down all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, but Musk's “Doctors of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is torn apart the funding scheme.

Some of the world's largest companies have followed suit. Of the broad pushback to everything from environmental goals to sustainable development, among the most notable participants are US finance companies and high-tech companies, including Goldman Sachs, Accenture and Amazon, but also UK companies such as GSK.

“He needs to be locked up,” Lady Lane Fox said of Mask's role in the rollback. “I think it's extraordinary that the wealthiest guys in the world are trampling on these things, and that we still have fanboys from the tech sector. It's already corrosive to society and I'd argue that it's going to last.”

For businesses, she says it's better for diversity to ultimately appeal to the widest talent pool of employees and target the widest range of customers. This is just as much about profit as social justice, she adds. However, she has broader concerns about the future.

“First, it's financial. But secondly, it's about power and money – like everything, is it?

“If you're looking at a sector like the digital sector where employment growth, opportunities growth, it's the growth sector of the economy. But you don't include a lot of people in it. Then you'll create inequality. Full stop. It's financial and a social justice issue.”

Given the close relationship between the UK and the US, there is an opinion that the UK continues naturally in the places it stepped in America. But there are indications that some UK businesses, and even US companies, are ready to go away.

Accounting firm Deloitte has directed staff working on a contract to remove pronouns from emails to announce the end of the DEI program. However, the British boss told the staff that the UK business was ” [its] The goal of diversity.”

“I feel like a global company rooted in the US is emphasizing the slight politically motivated change until it all rows out, and I feel it's been a little more tempered here,” says Lane Fox.

She says that UK businesses have the opportunity to do something different. “I think we have a better shot at building a more robust company, attracting talent and building the most resilient company of the future.”

For almost 30 years, LaneFox has built a career and millions of pounds of fortune in technology. She created the first Big Money Floating LastMinute.com on LastMinute.com, an online travel site co-founded with Oxford alumnus Brent Hoberman in 1998.

She joined Twitter's board of directors (now X) in 2016 and after landing a major payday in 2022 with a $44 billion hostile takeover of Musk, he dissolved the board and appointed its sole director.

He saw musk in his oval office, paraded his Son X over his shoulder, raising doubts about gender division. “Can you imagine it if it was a woman? Can you imagine what it would look like? I mean, I just think the whole thing is really awful.”

But, in personal abilities, the BCC president has not suggested that this approach is not for everyone. “It's really hard to navigate. It's a responsibility to our customers and employees that may differ from our personal views.”

Government regulations enshring diversity targets are also a bad idea, she says. Instead, businesses prefer to report their progress. “It's important to keep that in the light and keep reporting. Keeping good investors, looking at the right metrics, investing in the right companies all helps.”

However, there has not been enough progress. This week's analysis showed that women's unemployment and worsening participation in the workforce have pushed the UK behind Canada to the lowest global ranking for workplace equality in a large economy in a decade.

Gender wage gaps slowly decrease over time, The average salary is still 7% less For women rather than men. That's a challenge that Lane Fox knows too much. “Look at the data. It's really loud. It's not moving,” she says.

“What I'm worried about is that it's too easy to find the numbers we thought were moving forward.

“This week on International Women's Day, we see that representatives at the executive level have returned. I think the board progress is still good at the FTSE 100 level, but it's bad at the FTSE 250 and 350 levels.

“I know there are people in the sector who are thinking, 'Oh, here she's going again.' That applies to many women [that people think that]. But it is very important to continue these discussions. ”