The coincidence of the closure of the last 22 BHS stores with the revelation that Sir Philip Green has come up with a ploy to stymie an investigation by the pensions regulator was greeted with another round of negative newspaper headlines and editorials.

It is doubtful that he bothered to read them while cruising the Mediterranean on his “£100m superyacht”, but the mainstream media message could not be clearer. Green is the hate figure of the moment.

I don’t think too many people will share the view of Forbes commentator Tim Worstall that it amounts to a witch hunt. National newspaper editors obviously disagree with him.

The Daily Mail’s front page on Monday, “Sir Shifty bids to ‘blackmail watchdog’”, was echoed in other papers: “After 88 years, doors close on high st icon destroyed by one man’s greed” (Daily Mirror); “Green is ‘evil’ and an ‘asset stripper’, claims MP” (The Independent); “Green in the firing line” (i).



The Sun ran a picture of a sobbing BHS employee overprinted with the headline “Now give back the Green stuff... and the knighthood, too”.

The Daily Express carried pictures of demonstrators outside a BHS store calling on Green to sell his luxury yachts in order to live up to his pledge to MPs to “sort” the pensions deficit.

The Times reported that Green “is trying to end the threat of legal action against him... by writing a cheque for more than £300m that would help to plug a hole in the company’s pension fund.”

But the shortfall totalled £571m, which is now thought to have reached £700m because of lower interest rates that have resulted from changes in monetary policy by the Bank of England.

Several editorials reiterated their dislike for Green’s conduct. The Sun wondered if there was any limit to “smug tycoon” Green’s “arrogance” and accused him of trying to wriggle out of an investigation. It said:

“Green is trying to keep his wife – who controls the family fortune – out of the firing line. But the probe by the regulator must reach its conclusion, if only to deter future attempts at asset stripping successful companies... Sir Philip has lost the respect of his peers in business, he’s lost most of his celebrity pals, and – if he continues to fight against paying the debt he owes – he should lose his knighthood.”

The Mirror agreed. The BHS closures are “not the closure of this scandal”, it said:

“Huge debts are still to be settled with a shop full of unsavoury characters - from shifty tycoon Philip Green and his tax haven-based wife Tina to three-time bankrupt Dominic Chappell, accused of short-changing loyal staff, company pensioners and suppliers. None of them must be allowed to walk away from deals which expose how capitalism shouldn’t work.”

And the Mail was similarly exercised by Green’s offer to pay £300m “but only if the watchdog drops its probe into his business practices”. The paper said:

“Does he think Britain is a banana republic, where justice is negotiable and money can buy immunity from investigation for possible wrong-doing? If so, he must be made to think again. Indeed, it is vital that the regulator continues its scrutiny of Sir Shifty’s dealings, which could have worrying implications for members of other pension schemes in his retail empire, nominally owned by his tax-exile wife.”

Could Green have saved himself from this ignominy? According to a fascinating story in the Financial Times at the weekend, he might have done so.

It revealed that former business journalist Jeff Randall was approached months ago by Frank Field, the Labour MP who chairs the work and pensions select committee, to broker a deal with Green.

Randall, the former Sunday Times business editor, Daily Telegraph editor-at-large, BBC business editor and presenter of an eponymous Sky News show, is a friend of Green’s.

The FT article stated that the talks “fizzled out at the end of May, when it became clear that the distance between two sides was only growing wider.”

It reported that Randall - who received no payment and had no formal advisory role - “spoke to both men several times and was confident at first that he could get them to agree.” The article continued:

“At one point he suggested to Sir Philip that he deposit a large sum in an escrow account, which could be added to or reduced following a final deal. But people briefed on the discussions said it soon became apparent that the gap between the two men was widening.”

Randall was quoted as saying, with typical self-deprecating humour: “I tried to help but I failed. My future career as an honest broker is clearly limited.”