PR firm splits with Green in wake of scandal
Topshop billionaire loses trusted adviser in wake of sexual harassment claims and controversial NDA use
SIR PHILIP GREEN’S PR firm has walked away from the billionaire and his company in the wake of the scandal surrounding his use of gagging clauses to silence allegations of sexual harassment and racial discrimination.
Maitland/amo, a financial public relations company that has represented the Topshop tycoon and his businesses for a number of years, is understood to have made the decision because of the personal nature of the scandal surrounding the entrepreneur.
Neil Bennett, its chief executive and a former trusted adviser to Sir Philip, confirmed that the company’s contract with Arcadia came to an end yesterday.
It comes days after Baroness Brady resigned as chairman of Taveta Investments, Sir Philip’s holding company.
Despite coming under pressure to explain what she knew about the allegations against him, Lady Brady has stayed silent about her decision to go. She left two weeks after issuing a statement saying that she intended to “remain in post” because of a “sense of duty” toward employees, including Sophia Peschisolido, her own daughter.
The resignation of a second Taveta executive – Sharon Brown, the only other woman who served as a non-executive director and did not simultaneously work for the retail firm – was announced at the same time.
Sir Philip has faced a growing public backlash since being named in October as the businessman who took out an injunction against The Daily Telegraph preventing this newspaper printing allegations of sexual and racial harassment made by staff members.
An investigation found that, among other allegations, a female executive received more than £1 million after she accused the retail tycoon of groping her, and a black employee received a similar amount after allegedly being told he was still “throwing spears in the jungle”.
Sir Philip is under investigation by police in the US after Katie Surridge, a Pilates teacher at the Arizona resort where he owns a home, alleged she had been groped by him. In the UK, the Metropolitan Police are “looking into” allegations reported to them. Sources said Maitland was unwilling to deal with the fallout from The Telegraph’s investigation and advised Sir Philip to draft in a new team.
Maitland, which describes itself as “Europe’s leading financial, corporate and political communications consultancy”, was said to be uncomfortable dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct, which it felt were outside its remit as business PR advisers.
One senior financial agency director told City AM, a London-based newspaper: “You judge a company by the company it keeps. Green has proved now with all the stuff that has come out that he is simply more trouble than he’s worth. No one in the industry envies Maitland the job they’ve had.”
Mr Bennett has represented Sir Philip since 2016, when his first task was reportedly to manage his impending appearance before MPS over the BHS scandal. The end of the relationship comes as Sir Philip faces a second grilling, this time by a parliamentary committee which has called him and Lady Brady to explain the use of nondisclosure agreements in discrimination cases. They are expected to give evidence within the next month.