Humiliation of Phil the Spiv as not a single MP supports him
Unanimous vote to remove his knighthood
SIR Philip Green was facing humiliation last night after MPs voted to strip the ‘billionaire spiv’ of his knighthood.
During an extraordinary three-hour character assassination, MPs accused the self-proclaimed King of Retail of beating BHS ‘black and blue’ and taking ‘the rings from its fingers’.
The tycoon was compared to Napoleon and crooked magnate Robert Maxwell, accused of ‘shaming British capitalism’ and likened to a rat deserting a sinking ship.
In a sign of how toxic Green’s reputation has become, not a single MP was prepared to speak up in support of a man who has spent decades being fawned over by politicians.
After lining up to hurl insults at the tycoon, MPs unanimously voiced their support for an amendment to strip him of his cherished knighthood – awarded a decade ago for services to retail.
The vote had been allowed by Speaker John Bercow after 116 MPs from all parties rushed to sign the amendment.
Although the motion – the first to ever remove an honour – is not binding, it piles huge pressure on the secretive Honours Forfeiture Committee to remove the gong.
Greg Mulholland, the Liberal Democrats’ business spokesman, said: ‘I’m backing calls for his honour to be removed. I will be making a formal complaint and I urge my fellow MPs to join me.’
A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘There will obviously be a decision potentially made at some stage by the forfeiture committee.’
One of the last people to be stripped of his knighthood was disgraced former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Fred Goodwin, who was accused of driving the bank to the verge of collapse.
Earlier this year, Green was branded the ‘unacceptable face of capitalism’ following a scathing investigation by MPs into the collapse of BHS. The 88-year-old retail chain went into administration shortly after being sold for £1 by Green to serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell, with a £571million pension scheme deficit.
Green was accused of ‘systematically’ plundering hundreds of millions from the company and enriching his family with dividends.
Yesterday, dozens of MPs attended the Commons chamber to debate the issue. During extraordinary scenes, they said his only hope of clinging on to his knighthood was to use some of his estimated £3.2billion fortune to plug the BHS pension black hole. MPs took turns to attack the tycoon for not honouring his promise and rescue the 22,000 scheme members who face swingeing cuts to their retirement income.
The assault was spearheaded by the chairmen of the two parliamentary committees which accused Green of plundering BHS.
Frank Field, the Labour chairman of the work and pensions committee, described the collapse of BHS as a ‘sad, slowly unfolding Greek tragedy’.
Describing BHS as a prosperous business with a healthy pension scheme when Green bought it, Mr Field said: ‘Philip Green is not the king of retail. He is a very successful traditional asset stripper.’
He added: ‘In my mind’s eye, he was a character most like the Napoleon whom I read about in history books at school.’
Labour MP Dennis Skinner responded: ‘I had always thought that Sir Philip Green was more of a Maxwell. He had the money and he had the yachts. He had the workers and he robbed them of their pensions. It is almost a parallel.’
MPs also criticised Green and his wife Tina for extracting more than £400 million in dividends from BHS within the first few years of taking it over in 2000.
Iain Wright, the Labour chairman of the business innovation and skills committee, described Green as a ‘domineering, overbearing and bullying individual’. He said: ‘He took the rings from BHS’s fingers, beat it black and blue, starved it of food and water, put it on life support, and then wanted credit for keeping it alive.’
Perhaps the most withering putdown came from Labour MP David Winnick, who said: ‘I see Green as a billionaire spiv who should never have received a knighthood and who has shamed British capitalism.’
Mr Mulholland’s letter of complaint will be sent to the Honours and Appointments Secretariat. This secretariat considers the case and, if it agrees, forwards it to the Honours Forfeiture Committee.
Green was said to be in London yesterday amid reports that he is hoping to thrash out a deal with the Pensions Regulator before the weekend. But this was not confirmed by his spokesman, who declined to comment.
‘He has shamed British capitalism’ ‘Robbed workers of pensions’