Philip Green launches fresh attack on Frank Field
- Published
On the eve of a commons debate on whether to strip Sir Philip Green of his knighthood, the war of words between Sir Philip Green and his nemesis Frank Field intensified (if that's possible).
A letter seen by the BBC sends a fresh rebuke from the retailer to the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee.
Specifically, it criticises Mr Field for upsetting the 22,000 workers in the rest of his Arcadia empire (which includes Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and others) by saying in an interview that Sir Philip "is running Arcadia into the ground like BHS".
The letter also objects to Frank Field's lack of remorse for saying Sir Philip had been "nicking money off other people".
A charge for which the recent enquiry found no evidence.
Sir Philip says he won't sue Frank Field
In the letter Sir Philip pointedly declines to litigate against Field - a course Sir Philip says he felt he was being goaded into.
It seems unlikely that this will change the tenor of a debate scheduled for 11:30 on Thursday. It will be a brave MP who stands against the tide of public opinion - despite the fact that there is no evidence Sir Philip did anything illegal in selling an ailing BHS for £1 to a buyer that he accepts was a manifestly unsuitable buyer.
'Committed'
He remains committed to "sorting" the huge deficit in the BHS pension scheme and preventing it falling into the Pension Protection Fund which would see those scheme members yet to retire lose 10% of their pension income immediately and see their future benefits dwindle over time.
Sources close to the negotiations tell me that despite the fact "an enormous amount of energy" is going into the discussions, a resolution is not imminent.
An MPs vote alone is not enough to strip him of his honour - and we may not even get a vote tomorrow - that depends on the discretion of the Speaker of the House Jon Bercow.
If we do, and the vote goes against Sir Philip, the final decision will rest with the Honours Forfeiture Committee, headed by the UK's top civil servant.
Pension scheme members will care more about their outcome than the arcane workings of the honours system. This messy affair seems likely to drag on for some time yet.
Read the letter in full:
