Laws serve the rich and make us look a bit Green
Normally one to never shy away from a camera, Sir Philip Green was decidedly shy when I found him at his US bolthole this week.
The Topshop tycoon was laying low at his Arizona mansion after being accused of sexual and racial harassment by employees.
After spending what to him is pocket change on a high court injunction to prevent the claims being made public, Lord Peter Hain used Parliamentary privilege to reveal the businessman’s identity.
It shows how true the old adage “everything hidden is meant to be revealed, and everything concealed is meant to be brought to light” is. Just ask Trump.
Between him and Green, the two billionaires allegedly spent a fortune on hush-money deals to prevent claims about their behaviour being made public.
The use of archaic injunctions by the rich and famous in the UK to cover any act deemed wrong are no longer worth the paper they are written on.
Before Lord Hain spoke, at least three US publications were poised to reveal Green.
They would have been immune to any action a UK court could bring.
Green’s case demonstrates we have an analogue justice system in a digital age as while papers are gagged by the laws stuck in Dickensian times, the internet is free to out just what and who it likes.
The laws need to change as does the behaviour of those guilty of wrongdoing.
Perhaps though when it comes to the likes of Green and Trump they cannot help themselves.