Sir Philip Green threatened to “turn gay” and proposition a man in response to new sexual harassment claims as he angrily defied calls to lift gagging orders on his accusers.

The beleaguered billionaire, named last week as the businessman at the centre of Britain’s MeToo scandal, also warned things would get “get horribly, horribly ugly” for the Daily Telegraph if it did not halt its on-going investigation into allegations made against him.

The Telegraph tracked Sir Philip down to his luxury Arizona hideaway to ask him about the mounting accusations and his refusal to lift an injunction preventing this newspaper publishing his alleged victims’ stories.

Quizzed about claims from lawyer Nancy Dell’Olio that he once made her a real-life Indecent Proposal by offering her £1 million to spend the night with him, he told a male reporter: “I’m going to proposition you, actually. I’m going to turn gay in a minute. You can write that down. How’s that?”

The Topshop boss branded the accusations from the former Strictly Come Dancing contestant and ex-girlfriend of England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson as “nonsense”, adding, “She should be so lucky”, and calling her a “bankrupt” who was “sleeping on somebody’s couch”.

When another reporter identified herself as being from the Telegraph as Sir Philip set off for a desert hike, he initially called for “security” and threatened to involve the police, saying: “I’m sick of the Telegraph.”