Soon to be just Mr? MPs increase their calls to strip Sir Philip Green of his knighthood
Topshop tycoon 'very, very, very, sorry' apology over the collapse of BHS isn't enough for politicians
SIR Philip Green’s desperate bid to keep his knighthood looks increasingly fruitless as pressure grows on MPs to strip him of the honour.
In an interview about BHS’s collapse last night the Topshop tycoon said he was “very, very, very sorry” and would do “whatever it takes” to resolve the crisis of its pensions blackhole.
But almost 50 MPs are openly calling for him to have the title removed and one of the leading politicians in the investigation of the collapse of BHS believes he cannot hold on to it.
Labour MP Frank Field was the co-chair of the parliamentary inquiry into the closure of the high street chain and has locked horns with Green several times over the summer about the issue.
The veteran campaigning MP has said the under-fire billionaire needed to “face up to the evil he has done in destroying BHS, workers’ jobs, and pension fund liabilities”.
Green sold the chain for £1 last year to investors, led by former bankrupt Dominic Chappell and last night during the interview he admitted Chappell was the wrong person to sell to.
Administrators were called in in April, and when the stores closed 11,000 jobs were lost and there was a £571million pensions black hole.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Field suggested MPs would not be so angry if the tycoon was able to fix the pensions problem.
He said: “The key thing was coming up with a generous pension settlement, but he’s never done so.
“The flavour of this would change if he put concrete proposals which insured that the pensioners were better off than they are now, heading for the pension protection fund, that would help.”
MPs are set to debate in the House of Commons tomorrow about whether Green should be stripped of his knighthood.
Field added: “Whether in fact – given the views now in the country which might be expressed on Thursday in the House of Commons - it’s possible to save his knighthood is clearly another matter.”
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The proposal from Tory Richard Fuller and independent Michelle Thomson asks for the Honours Forfeiture Committee to recommend Sir Philip's knighthood is "cancelled and annulled".
They have now received support from 47 fellow MPs, including Conservative and Labour former ministers.
SNP MPs are supporting the amendment in number, with former first minister Alex Salmond signed up.
But the final decision on the amendment rests with Commons Speaker John Bercow, and any vote would be non-binding.
BHS went into administration shortly after being sold for £1 by Sir Philip, with a £571 million pension scheme deficit.
The original motion led by Field, chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee, includes a call for Green to fulfil his promise to resolve the deficit in the pension fund.
Even if the MPs do vote to strip him of his knighthood this would not be binding – as the decision is made by the forfeiture committee.
Green said the report released by the parliamentary committees into the collapse of BHS contained factual and legal errors.
It accused him of “plundering” BHS, leaving it on the brink of collapse and with the pension fund in deficit.
The pension scheme was in surplus when Sir Philip bought BHS in 2000 but by the time the chain collapsed it had a deficit of £571million.
Green and other shareholders took more than £400million in dividends from the business but he has told MPs he ploughed more than £400million of investment into BHS.
In a report he published yesterday it concluded the tycoon was totally blameless in the collapse of the high street chain.
The findings by his lawyers are that a parliamentary inquiry, which savaged him over the retailer’s demise, are in fact “bizarre” and “unsupportable”.
