Ex- M& S chief to help BHS probe
FORMER Marks & Spencer chairman Lord Myners has been appointed as an adviser to MPs investigating Sir Philip Green’s role in the collapse of BHS.
The ex- City minister, 68, will lead a team of financial experts in the inquiries.
Former BHS owner Sir Philip will be probed by the Work and Pensions Committee and the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee on June 15 over a £ 400million dividend payment made to his family from the business and over his management of the pension scheme.
The billionaire has come in for criticism after the retailer collapsed last week, a year after he sold it for £ 1, putting 11,000 jobs at risk and leaving a £ 571million pension- fund black hole.
Sir Philip has criticised the two senior Labour MPs who chair the committees for leading what he described as a “trial by media”.
In a letter to Work and Pensions Committee chairman Frank Field and Business, Innovation and Skills Committee chairman Iain Wright, the head of the Arcadia group said he wanted to “record his concerns” over comments the two MPs have made.
He said: “I wish to record my concerns about various statements you have made to the press – calling for me to lose my knighthood or suggesting that I have asset- stripped BHS without regard to pensions and employees.
“These statements suggest that you are leaping to conclusions before any evidence from any witness has been heard.
“They suggest that there will be no real attempt to run your inquiries in a fair way and that the outcome is predetermined.”
Sir David Norgrove, chairman of the Low Pay Commission and a former chairman of M& S’s pension fund, has also been recruited to help with the probe.