MINISTER: GREEN BULLIED ME TOO

Green ‘would ask women at meetings if they were naughty and needed slap’

A former minister today accuses Sir Philip Green of bullying her.

Ros altmann said the billionaire bombarded her with a ‘torrent’ of unpleasant late-night texts.

She described the mogul’s actions as ‘frightening’ and beyond ‘the bounds of decency’ – and said she believed his behaviour was rooted in sexism.

his alleged bullying came before the collapse of BhS and the huge public row over its pensions deficit. Baroness altmann – pensions minister under David Cameron – spoke out after Sir Philip, 66, was dramatically named as the businessman at the centre of a gagging order row over sexual harassment and racial abuse allegations.

the Mail last night tracked the tycoon to a luxury 150-acre health spa in arizona, where he has been enjoying daily mountain hikes, thousands of miles from the crisis engulfing his British business empire. MPs have called for Sir Philip to be stripped of his knighthood.

Yesterday, the tycoon faced further allegations as it was claimed that several of his former employees had been given secret pay-outs of more than £1million to settle their claims of sexual

harassment or bullying. Senior managers at Sir Philip’s Arcadia Group were said to have ignored his behaviour, which allegedly included asking women during meetings if they were ‘naughty girls’ and if they ‘needed their bottoms slapped’.

A source told the Guardian that Sir Philip was ‘generally feared’ inside his Central London headquarters, and was ‘very physical’ with women, often giving lingering hugs and shoulder massages.

Few made complaints, but those who threatened legal action were silenced with payments and controversial non-disclosure agreements, similar to the gagging orders used by disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein to buy the silence of his alleged victims. Weinstein denies sexual harassment and assault.

Sir Philip has denied any allegations of unlawful sexual or racist behaviour ‘categorically and wholly’. But in another tumultuous 24 hours for the tycoon:

A source claimed at least seven ex-staff had received substantial payments to settle claims of harassment, bullying or abuse, with several pay-outs involving seven-figure sums;

Downing Street hinted the honours committee was already reviewing his knighthood;

His glamorous show business friends began to distance themselves from the scandal;

Customers threatened to boycott his business empire, including Topshop, Miss

‘Overly long, lingering hugs’

Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins, using the Twitter hashtag PinkNotGreen;

His accuser Lord Hain faced conflict of interest accusations over his decision to name Sir Philip in the House of Lords;

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve QC accused Lord Hain of arrogance and said he had abused Parliamentary privilege.

Baroness Altmann said she decided to speak out because she wanted to make it clear to other women that Sir Philip’s bullying behaviour was ‘wholly unacceptable’. She told the Mail she believed it was rooted in sexism because he would not have treated a man in the same way.

She said he sent ‘a torrent of cryptic and unpleasant texts’ to her personal mobile phone number, in which he tried to force her into agreeing to meetings. The text messages would often be late at night or before dawn, and when his tactics failed to produce a result he persuaded other powerful figures to intervene on his behalf, ratcheting up the pressure.

Baroness Altmann said Sir Philip bombarded her with messages in early 2016, shortly before BHS went into administration.

The tycoon sold the struggling business to a City investor for £1 just a year earlier, with a multi-million pension deficit. Months later, after she resigned as pensions minister and gave evidence to the parliamentary investigation into the failure of the BHS pension scheme, she said the bullying began again. Sir Philip has been dogged by claims of bullying and intimidation against his own staff, and was named in the House of Lords as the businessman who spent almost £500,000 on an injunction to stop the Daily Telegraph publishing allegations of sexual harassment and racial abuse.

Its lawyers have written to Sir Philip’s legal firm, threatening to go back to court unless the injunction is dropped.

Meanwhile the Guardian quoted an unnamed source who described conditions inside Arcadia’s headquarters in Marylebone, Central London. The source said Sir Philip would walk into meetings unannounced and give women lingering hugs, but would greet men with handshakes. The unnamed source said: ‘He would walk into meeting rooms that he didn’t need to be in, he would just walk in, say hi to people and hug all the women in the room. His hands weren’t anywhere inappropriate, just around their backs... There were lots of hugs with women, particularly with senior women. I would describe them as overly long, lingering hugs.’ The insider added: ‘He would ask the women in the room, were they behaving, were they being naughty girls, and did they need their bottom slapped. That is almost his standard way of introducing himself into a room.’

Women generally reacted to his comments with ‘nervous laughter’ but rarely complained, and senior executives showed ‘no appetite’ to challenge their boss, the source said. The insider described how Sir Philip referred to women as ‘sweetheart’, ‘darling’ or ‘love’, rather than by name, and said one woman who objected was told to ‘shut the f*** up’.

The source also detailed how the tycoon would creep up behind women in corridors and shout ‘Boo!’ before putting his hands on their shoulders to rub and massage them to ‘calm them down’.

Women had an ‘unofficial rule’ that they would not get into a lift with him, the insider said.

Sir Philip made frequent comments about women’s weight, asking an Asian woman if she had been ‘eating too many samosas’ and saying of another female employee that she ‘must be a lesbian because no man would marry her’. The source said it was rare for staff to raise grievances, but claimed such complaints were routinely settled with a large pay-out.

The source told the Guardian: ‘It was just a case of, to make sure this doesn’t go to court and to make sure nobody finds out, how many zeros do you want on the end of this cheque?’

Sir Philip did not respond to requests for comment about Baroness Altmann’s allegations, although he did issue a strongly worded denial about the injunction row. He said: ‘To the extent that it is suggested that I have been guilty of unlawful sexual or racist behaviour, I categorically and wholly deny these allegations.’