Labour’s shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has joined calls for former BHS boss Sir Philip Green to be stripped of his knighthood if he refuses to appear before a panel of MPs to face questioning over the company’s collapse.
The billionaire high street tycoon has said he is “not prepared to participate” with the House of Commons Work and Pensions committee’s inquiry into the £571m pensions black hole left at BHS, unless Frank Field, the veteran Labour MP, resigns as the committee’s chair.
Mr McDonnell said that Sir Philip’s behaviour was an “insult to the British public”.
“If he refuses to come before parliament, Green should be stripped of his knighthood,” he said, in an article in The Observer, in which he refused to use the businessman’s title.
A group of Conservative MPs have already announced plans to write to the Honours Committee calling on it to reconsider Sir Philip’s knighthood, unless he pledges to cover the BHS pension fund blackhole.
Sir Philip’s Arcadia Group, which also owns Topshop, Burton and other high street names, sold BHS for £1 in 2015 to the former bankrupt Dominic Chappell, who had no experience of retail.
BHS went into administration in April, and an attempt to find a buyer has failed, meaning that up to 11,000 jobs are set to be lost.
Sir Philip had been set to appear before the Work and Pensions Committee on Wednesday, but in a strongly-worded letter he claimed the outcome of the inquiry had been “pre-determined” and that Mr Field had set out to “destroy my reputation” before the hearing.
Mr Field told the Financial Times on Friday that he “would laugh” if Sir Philip were to offer less than £600m to settle BHS’s pension debts.
Responding to Sir Philip’s call for his resignation, the Birkenhead MP said: “The House of Commons decides who chairs these committees, not Sir Philip Green. It’s in his interest to turn up.”
Patience with Sir Philip within the Government also appears to be running out, after the business minister Anna Soubry tweeted: “Sir Philip needs to understand Parliament is the boss, get a grip [and] get in front of the committee on Wednesday”.
In his Observer article, Mr McDonnell accused Sir Philip of an “act of vandalism” in selling BHS on to someone with so little business experience and with the pension fund in such deep deficit.
“The fact he feels he can threaten to subvert parliament is an insult to the British public,” he said. “If he refuses to come before parliament, Green should be stripped of his knighthood. Parliament should have the right to strip honours from individuals, in my view. This would remove the secret committee network and help restore public faith in the honours system.”
A spokesman for the Arcadia Group said Sir Philip was waiting to see how Mr Field responded to his letter before deciding whether he would attend the hearing.
He added: "This doesn't appear to be a proper process any more. This is mob rule."
