MPS VOTE ON SIR SHIFTY’S GONG
After BHS scandal, shamed tycoon faces final humiliation
MPs are to hold an unprecedented vote on whether disgraced former BHs boss sir Philip Green should be stripped of his knighthood.
The billionaire, nicknamed Sir Shifty, is blamed for allowing the 88- year- old high street chain to fail earlier this year, after selling it to a thrice- bankrupt businessman.
The historic Commons vote – the first to be held on removing an honour – will take place on Thursday next week.
It will not be binding, but MPs hope it will put pressure on the secretive Honours Forfeiture Committee to respond to huge public anger and take action.
More than 150,000 people have signed an online petition demanding the move.
Last week, Prime Minister Theresa May took aim at Sir Philip when she attacked ‘a director who takes out massive dividends while knowing that the company pension is about to go bust’.
If he is stripped of his knighthood, he will join a rogues’ gallery including traitor Anthony Blunt and RBS boss Fred Goodwin.
Frank Field, chairman of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee, was the first to demand the removal of Sir Philip’s honour.
He said it was wrong that he should keep his knighthood after he starved BHS of investment while awarding himself huge dividends.
Sir Philip has so far refused to plug gaps in the BHS pension fund. He added to the outrage that followed the collapse of BHS by spending the summer sailing round the
Mediterranean in a new superyacht. In next week’s Commons debate, MPs will call on Sir Philip to address the BHS pension fund deficit as part of a motion tabled by Mr Field and Iain Wright, the chairman of the Business, Innovation and Skills select committee. But business committee members Richard Fuller and Michelle Thomson want to go even further.
They have tabled an amendment which suggests the actions of Sir Philip ‘raise the question of whether he should be allowed to continue to be a holder of the honour’.
The two committees conducted an inquiry into the collapse of BHS, and Mr Fuller said the evidence he heard prompted his bid for a Commons vote to remove Sir Philip’s knighthood.
He said: ‘To say that somebody can continue to have an honour in the light of that is questionable. In my view it would be wrong and inappropriate for him to continue to have that knighthood.’
Mr Fuller added: ‘ His actions at BHS were of such a nature as to make it faintly ridiculous for him to continue to warrant an award for services to retailing. I’m putting forward this amendment for the simple reason that he warrants losing his knighthood.
‘This is about expressing a legitimate sentiment about the way someone has behaved – it’s not populist screaming.’
Sir Philip, whose Arcadia Group owns Topshop and Miss Selfridge, bought BHS in 2000 but sold it for £1 in 2015 to Dominic Chappell, a former racing driver with no retail experience.
It crashed into administration in April this year, costing 11,000 jobs and threatening the income of 20,000 pensioners. The last of its 164 stores closed in August.
In July the Cabinet Office said it was looking at whether the tycoon should be stripped of his award for ‘bringing the honours system into disrepute’. Officials said civil servants would produce a recommendation before the Honours Forfeiture Committee considers the case. The Prime Minister and the Queen would then be asked to rubber stamp the decision.
Sir Philip was knighted by Tony Blair in 2006 for services to the retail industry. Critics say the honour should be removed unless he steps in to help plug BHS’s £571million pensions black hole.
In July, Labour MP Jim McMahon said: ‘It is important that we continue to campaign to get justice for everyone affected by the collapse of BHS. There are a lot of unanswered questions about Philip Green’s judgement. The question is: If he was nominated for an honour today, would it be approved? I believe the answer is “no”.’
In July a scathing report by the MPs revealed how the tycoon ‘systematically’ plundered hundreds of millions from BHS before leading it to disaster.
MPs blasted his web of companies that was designed to help him and his wife Tina avoid tax.