Misan Harriman to Step Down as Southbank Centre Chairman in Autumn 2026

Misan Harriman announced he will step down as chairman of the Southbank Centre when his second term ends in autumn 2026. The 48-year-old said he had always intended to serve only two terms and began the role just after Covid. GB News reported that Harriman shared a post on 6 May 2026 by pro-Gaza MP Ayoub Khan about the antisemitic Golders Green stabbing.

Harriman added a comment questioning why media and police coverage omitted a Muslim victim, Ishmail Hussein, who was attacked at his flat in Southwark hours before two Jewish people were stabbed. Later in May 2026, Harriman quoted US writer Susan Sontag on the Holocaust and stated that 80 per cent of any population could be moved in either direction.

He described the surge of Reform as real and said it should serve as both a warning and a rallying call, adding that Reform voters were not devils but had been influenced by certain newspapers and charlatans while holding many valid concerns.

Robert Jenrick, Reform’s Treasury spokesman, said comparing Reform voters to Nazis was disgusting and that Harriman should be nowhere near a taxpayer-funded organisation. Fiona Sharpe of Labour Against Antisemitism called for Harriman’s removal from the Southbank Centre. A Southbank Centre spokesman confirmed Harriman informed the board of his departure plans in early 2026.

The organisation stated it is an inclusive place that condemns all forms of antisemitism, hatred and discrimination, and that board members’ personal views do not represent the centre or affect its programming.