Fury as Green says he suffered in BHS crash

SHAMED former BHS boss Sir Philip Green, below, sparked outrage yesterday by claiming he was “vilified” after acting as a “gentleman” over the stores’ collapse.

Crusading MP Frank Field said the billionaire tycoon was “trying to stir things up”.

Sir Philip, 66, used a weekend interview to hit out at his treatment after the 2016 collapse, which cost 12,000 jobs.

The disaster came a year after he sold up to ex-bankrupt Dominic Chappell for a nominal fee of £1. MPs dubbed Sir Philip the “unacceptable face of capitalism” amid calls for him to be stripped of his knighthood. But the businessman branded the politicians “old w ****** ” and claimed his critics were jealous of his wealth and success. Sir Philip, who spent the summer after the disaster holidaying on his wife Tina’s £100million yacht, said the slide left him with a legal bill of £35million. “My family lost millions on BHS,” he said. “The most sad part of all of this: Having paid and behaved correctly, I’ve got more vilified.”

Labour’s Mr Field, who led the battle on behalf of BHS employees, said: “He’s trying to stir things up and I leave the public to judge for themselves.”

Shopworkers’ union leader John Hannett added: “The actions of those at the top of BHS brought that company to its knees with the loss of 12,000 jobs.”

Business analyst Joe Jonkler tweeted that Sir Philip paying himself a £22million dividend in 2004 was the beginning of the end.

“BHS never recovered from this avaricious decision,” he said.