Baroness of business who says all men should be feminists
Karren Brady, a Tory peer and women’s advocate, is under pressure to disassociate herself from Sir Philip Green
ABy Daniel Foggo, Callum Adams and Charles Hymas s the “first lady of football”, Baroness Brady has a reputation as an outspoken critic of sexism and harassment in the workplace. She is now under pressure over her links to Sir Philip Green, the businessman at the centre of the Metoo scandal.
Her entrepreneurial acumen has made her a key partner of the retail billionaire with the task of “sorting out” corporate governance at Taveta, a Monaco-based company headed by his wife and which owns Sir Philip’s Arcadia Group and a string of high street retailers.
As someone who explicitly attacked the abuse of power by people like the film producer Harvey Weinstein, the question is whether Lady Brady will now challenge Sir Philip over the latest chapter in his controversial career as a retail magnate.
Throughout her career, from becoming managing director of Birmingham City at the age of just 23 to successfully negotiating the move of West Ham United from their old ground, Upton Park, to the Olympic Stadium, she has publicly brooked no sexist behaviour from bosses, colleagues or employees.
Right from the start, when she stepped on to the Birmingham team bus for the first time and a player reportedly said: “I can see your tits from here,” she has had the riposte, the poise and the last word. “When I sell you to Crewe, you won’t be able to see them from there will you?”
Lady Brady, who became the youngest managing director of a UK plc when she floated Birmingham City, went on to become chief executive of West Ham, a company she notes on her website is worth
£800 million.
She is also senior nonexecutive director of Syco Entertainment, a company jointly owned by Simon Cowell and Sony.
Now known to millions for her role as Lord Sugar’s assistant in The Apprentice, she has used her profile to advocate on behalf of women in business, setting up Mentore, a consultancy to help female executives fulfil their potential.
In 2013, David Cameron, then prime minister, appointed her as the Conservative small business ambassador before elevating her to the Lords a year later.
Lady Brady, 49, has supported the Tories since she was 18, during the heyday of the Thatcher government and has been a party member for more than a decade. Appointed a CBE in 2014 for her services to entrepreneurship and women in business, Lady Brady has written and published four books including Strong Women in March 2012 which became a Sunday Times bestseller. “If people like me don’t help, who will? I have a responsibility to be a role model, to fight for things we didn’t have. I don’t think everyone should have to break ground,” she has said.
Yesterday, she was urged to disassociate herself from Sir Philip and follow through on her past condemnation of sexist behaviour and her staunch defence of women in the workplace.
Paola Diana, a Metoo campaigner, said: “She should definitely get away from there. She should be consistent with what she says and does.
“She should step away, and this is what everyone should do, not only women.
“It’s all about power. These people – in the name of power and money – close their eyes to these horrible things but this is the time to open their eyes.”
It is not, however, just Lady Brady who has links to the Green business. Sophia Peschisolido, her 22-year-old daughter, works as a “social media assistant” at Topshop, the jewel in the Green empire, according to her Facebook profile.
Sophia has also starred as a model in fashion shoots for the company, with her mother saying on Twitter: “So proud of my daughter @Sophiapesch modelling for Topshop on Instagram. She looks AMAZING!”
When challenged that her daughter had only got the job because of her family connections, Lady Brady was quick to deny the allegations, saying: “What a horrible thing to imply – she got it on merit because she is gorgeous & fabulous but mostly because she deserved it.”
Sophia is one of two children Lady Brady has with Paul Peschisolido, a Canadian footballer whom she met at Birmingham (while she was chief executive the club sold him to Stoke City, signed him back, then transferred
‘Lots of men are asking: ‘When is it appropriate to touch a colleague?’ If you are in any doubt, how about … never’
him again) and married in 1995. The family live in Knightsbridge, London. All men, she says, should be feminists because “they all have mothers, wives, daughters, aunts, nieces”.
The conversations that Lady Brady may now be having with Sir Philip will never be known but what is certain is her revulsion for the behaviour of people like Weinstein, who is accused of sexually assaulting young actresses, Sir Michael Fallon, the former defence secretary who quit over lewd comments to Andrea Leadsom, and the actor Kevin Spacey, accused of sexual misconduct.
Writing in her column in The Sun, she said: “What Michael Fallon, Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey are accused of is abusing their power in an organisation to get someone to do something they don’t want to do, or tolerate something they don’t like.
“[They] behave like this because they have a fundamental lack of respect for others. It is also because they think they can get away with it. And until now they have been allowed to.
“In fact, their behaviour has frequently been covered up for them. One thing that bothers me about several recent resignations and sackings is this: Employers have acted not because of what these men did but because the public found out.”
She related an instance in which she once sacked a footballer accused of assaulting a woman, despite his value to the club.
“What mattered was that his behaviour was unacceptable and would not be tolerated,” she said. “Employers who turn a blind eye to repeated reports of assault and harassment become facilitators and enablers.
“Lots of men are asking: ‘When is it appropriate to touch a colleague?’ If you are in any doubt, how about … never.”
‘These people – in the name of power and money – close their eyes to these horrible things but this is the time to open their eyes’