‘A man like this should not be let loose to roam freely in a zoo, let alone a 21st century workplace’

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The Telegraph’s hands.” The Telegraph has released recordings of Sir Philip’s aggressive phone calls with reporters at this newspaper after he was first questioned about the NDAS in the summer.

In a series of increasingly menacing and expletive-ridden calls, Sir Philip said that newspaper executives should “grow some balls”, said he would take “pleasure” in personally bankrupting the editor and warned reporters that he did not want “an ugly punch-up”.

Sir Philip had applied for the injunction

in July when The Telegraph first approached him for comment but was eventually named in October in the House of Lords by Lord Hain, the former Cabinet minister, using parliamentary privilege.

Lord Hain yesterday urged the Prime Minister to bring in new laws to prevent non-disclosure agreements from covering up serious allegations. “We have to change the system. It’s broken,” said the Labour peer, adding: “This is a very serious abuse of the non-disclosure agreement law. What we have

here is a twisting of the law in order to silence people who have allegedly been mistreated in an appalling way.”

Writing in The Telegraph today, Maria Miller, the Tory chairman of the women and equalities select committee and former culture secretary, says: “Parliament has debated long and hard to put in place some of the best laws in the world to protect people from discrimination and bullying by unscrupulous employers. Yet, the evidence is that those laws are being flouted and unlawful behaviour covered up.

“The Philip Green case shows how broken the current system is when it comes to NDAS, protecting the powerful and silencing victims.

“Employers and lawyers need to hear a strong message from government that this has to change.”

Jess Phillips, a Labour MP on the committee, said: “This is about people being groped at work. These are allegations of sexual assaults. To me this passes the test of criminal activity.

“If NDAS can be used to silence allegations of criminal activity then the

message it sends is that your boss can grope you at work and get away with it. The current law is not protecting ordinary people and so therefore [there] needs to be a fundamental review.”

Peter Kyle, a Labour MP on the business select committee, said: “My initial reaction when I hear what these people have allegedly been put through is akin to being imprisoned in the workplace.

“I don’t think that a man like this should be let loose to roam freely in a zoo let alone in a modern 21st century British workplace.”

In a statement, Chris Evans, the editor of The Telegraph, said: “We are delighted the injunction has been lifted but our campaign goes on. And now, we look to the Government to act.

“In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein affair, we became aware that gagging orders called NDAS were being used to cover up allegations of sexual misconduct and racial abuse in the workplace. And that led to our investigation into Sir Philip Green and Arcadia. We maintain there is a clear public interest in telling people whether a

prospective employer has been accused of sexual misconduct and racial abuse.

“The Prime Minister has already indicated that she is uneasy with the way in which NDAS have been used. We ask her now to do something about it.”

The disclosures will reignite calls for Sir Philip, already damaged by the BHS scandal, to be stripped of the knighthood given to him by Tony Blair for services to the retail industry.

The Telegraph’s lawyers argued in court that “Sir Philip’s ‘misconduct’...

was sufficiently serious to engage the public interest including as it does unwanted contact of a sexual nature; general sexual harassment; racist language; and intimidation and bullying; many amounting to criminal offences, and all having serious consequences for employees in particular for their health and well-being”.

Sir Philip has always maintained that his actions amounted to “banter” and that none of his behaviour was unlawful.

The legal battle began in the summer

when reporters contacted businessman over the NDAS.

A trial was listed for the beginning of February, but shortly after Sir Philip’s lawyers were due to serve witness statements, the billionaire announced that he was dropping the case.

Mr Justice Warby formally lifted the injunction yesterday, and warned Sir Philip that any attempt to pursue his alleged victims may be viewed by a court as an “abuse of process”.

Mr Justice Warby also said that the conduct of Sir Philip and Arcadia, the

company that runs his stores, in continuing to pursue the legal action over the past few months had been “well outside the norm”.

Legal experts believe the way in which Sir Philip has pursued the case – and the vast sums of money involved – have demonstrated how the English courts can effectively be used to silence “Metoo” victims in this country. The only person who has felt able to speak out over the Topshop owner’s alleged conduct has been an American-based employee.