Philip Green must lose his knighthood, says Portas
Presenter urges health clubs to be more welcoming so that women are more inclined to join
SIR PHILIP GREEN should be stripped of his knighthood, Mary Portas has said.
The prominent businesswoman and retail expert was speaking at The Daily Telegraph’s Stella Live event yesterday when she condemned the tycoon following this newspaper’s revelations about allegations of inappropriate behaviour and the use of gagging orders.
Asked if Sir Philip should lose his title, the 58-year-old former government adviser replied: “Yes.” It follows her previous disclosure that Sir Philip should no longer be celebrated.
Writing in this newspaper in February, she said: “Sir Philip is a dinosaur and the days of reckoning are finally here. I’ve had to deal with him a number of times; the stories that came to light last year were not news to me and they certainly weren’t news to anybody working for him. The younger generation will not stand for the toxicity we’ve had to put up with. It’s about embracing a new way of working, as I advocate in Work Like a Woman, my manifesto for change.”
At the Stella Live event in London yesterday afternoon, Ms Portas reiterated her view that Baroness Brady, the former head of Taveta, the parent company for Sir Phillip’s business empire, should have stepped in sooner. Lady Brady resigned in February after The Telegraph revealed him as a leading figure in Britain’s own #Metoo scandal.
Ms Portas wrote at the time: “Of course, I’m pleased to see Karren has taken a stand but I can’t help feel it should have happened sooner and with feeling. If she stood up and said that until this is sorted, her responsibility is to all those who have suffered the ill-treatment of Sir Philip, what a powerful message that would send. The world would respond. We have to unite in times like this.”
Ms Portas previously said that women have “had to fit a certain mould” for years. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, she said: “This isn’t because we don’t want to become leaders. It certainly has nothing to do with a lack of talent or drive. The sad fact is we live in a world that isn’t built to help women (or men) thrive in a non-alpha way.”
Davina Mccall has called for gyms to take inspiration from Narcotics Anonymous meetings to help newcomers feel more welcome in exercise classes. Attending The Telegraph’s Stella Live event yesterday, the television presenter, 51, suggested the “cliquey” atmosphere at fitness clubs was putting off beginners.
Mccall, who has discussed her own experience with substance abuse, said gyms should analyse the steps taken by drug support groups to help people feel more integrated.
She said: “In Narcotics Anonymous meetings, they have a greeter to greet newcomers. When you first go to a meeting, you feel absolutely terrible and there’s someone there saying ‘hi, are you new, would you like a hug?’
“You can imagine I loved greeting,” she added – a reference to the emotional high-points in her ITV series Long Lost Families, when she would embrace tearful reunited relatives.
She told a sold-out audience at the Saatchi Gallery in London: “I often think that gyms should employ regular members of the class and say ‘would you be this week’s greeter’?
“What I am trying to say is that I know classes can be really cliquey and really scary … but you’ve got to be really brave and go for it.”
Her call follows a recent survey carried out by Nuffield Health, Britain’s largest not-for-profit healthcare provider, that revealed a
third of 18 to 35-year-olds in the UK feel too self-conscious to join a gym. They also found that, of the 2,000 young people they asked in December, almost a quarter cited being worried that other people would stare at them as a reason for holding back from exercising publicly.
Mccall, who is to launch an online fitness platform, Own Your Goals, said she wanted to help those who felt anxious about spending time in gyms.
She started making fitness DVDS 15 years ago and said she would assume responsibility in her gym class to help settle newcomers if it meant more people would sign up for workouts.
She said: “It would be really nice for women the first time they come to a class to have someone saying, ‘this is how it works, don’t be embarrassed, we’ve all been there once’.
“I would definitely put my hand up for that, I would love to do that.
“I’ve been there, I know what it feels like.”
Creating a better fitness community, she said, would add to initiatives already in place at most gyms and leisure centres to induct new members and help them get to grips with the equipment.
Bannatyne’s gym group said that its staff were welcoming to newcomers, who they encourage to take it easy. A Nuffield Health spokesman added that it tried to make the experience of joining one of its fitness and wellbeing clubs “a genuinely friendly and welcoming process to encourage people to make the most of their membership.
“For example, everyone who joins a Nuffield Gym benefits from a Health MOT and they get quality time with a highly-trained personal trainer to discuss your fitness.”
Mccall was joined at the event by other key speakers, including Mary Portas, the entrepreneur, and Emily Maitlis, the BBC journalist.