Vote in parliament followed debate in which Green was labelled a ‘billionaire spiv’ and ‘asset stripper’ and likened to Robert Maxwell and Napoleon

MPs have voted to strip Sir Philip Green of his knighthood in a symbolic move that adds to the pressure on the retail tycoon over the BHS scandal.

The businessman’s reputation was dealt a further blow following a debate in which he was labelled a “billionaire spiv” who should never have received his honour in the first place.



The approval of the parliamentary motion carries no official weight but it intensifies the pressure on Green, who has been criticised for foot-dragging in negotiations with the pensions regulator over the £571m hole in the BHS pension fund.

Green was pilloried during a more than two hour-long debate in which the once feted entrepreneur, who was knighted for services to the retail sector, was lambasted by MPs from across the political spectrum for his family’s role in the downfall of the high street chain. The fall of BHS triggered 11,000 job losses and left thousands of pensioners facing cuts to their benefits.

“[Green is a] billionaire spiv who should never have received a knighthood, a billionaire spiv who has shamed British capitalism,” said Labour MP David Winnick during a debate that, without a single Green sympathiser in the room, turned into a character assassination. MPs labelled Green an “asset stripper” and “corporate raider”, who was likened in the chamber to Napoleon and the former Mirror Group owner Robert Maxwell.

The Labour MP Frank Field, chair of the work and pensions committee, whose role in the MPs’ inquiry into the collapse of BHS has put him into the role of Green’s nemesis, said the businessman appeared willing to lose his reputation rather than “surrender a modest part of his mega-fortune” to aid BHS pensioners. Field said Green, who is worth an estimated £3.2bn, had promised to “sort” the pension issue back in June but that there was still no concrete proposal on the table.



Questioning whether Green had been a deserving recipient of a knighthood, Field said: “There was nothing the committee could find that shows Sir Philip Green is the king of the high street. He was a very, very, successful asset stripper.” Green was honoured by the Blair government in 2006.

Also speaking in parliament, Iain Wright, who co-chaired the select committee investigation with Field as chair of the business, innovation and skills select committee, told MPs that the failure of BHS was “one of the biggest corporate scandals of modern times”.

“Green took the rings from BHS’s fingers, beat it black and blue, starved it of food and water, put it on life support, and then wanted credit for keeping it alive,” said Wright, referring to the £400m in BHS dividends paid to the Green family in the early years of their stewardship.

Wright also questioned whether Green deserved acclaim for his skills as a retailer, suggesting his prowess lay in cutting costs and financial engineering with the bosses of rival chains such as John Lewis and Zara more deserving of plaudits. “Green can’t be described as a short-term corporate raider, but raid the company he did,” he said, adding that the Green family had sought to enrich itself at “the expense of long-term and sustainable growth for the company”.

“Certainly, profits were made, but they were more akin to a short-term sugar boost rather than a nutritious diet that aided the long-term health and strength of the business [BHS],” concluded Wright.

MPs voted in favour of the motion by acclamation, meaning that there was no opposition from parliamentarians on the chamber floor when the speaker put it to them. Despite the strong signal sent by the vote, the power to rescind a knighthood rests with the honours forfeiture committee, a group of civil servants and dignitaries chaired by Sir Jonathan Stephens, a permanent secretary.

Richard Fuller, the Tory MP who tabled the amendment calling for Green’s knighthood, said that although MPs could not remove the honour they were able to reflect the views of their constituents. “We do not make the final decision but it is worthy and honourable for this house to have a view about Sir Philip Green,” he said.

“Over the summer, he has had the opportunity to find his moral compass and do the right thing. In the absence of that, the house has no option but to support the amendment and the motion.”

The parliamentary inquiry into the collapse of BHS has strained relations between Green and MPs to breaking point, with a war of words between the tycoon and Field. The Labour MP for Birkenhead has riled the businessman by telling him to “stop messing around and write a big cheque”.

Green sold BHS for £1 in 2015 to investors led by Dominic Chappell, who had previously been declared bankrupt. The administrators were called in April this year but with no white knight willing to take on the loss-making chain, the last of its 170 stores shut at the end of the summer.

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Green’s business reputation was savaged in the BHS postmortem report published by MPs on Field and Wright’s committees. The report found that BHS was subject to “systematic plunder” by Green and Chappell and concluded there was “little to support the reputation for retail business acumen for which [Green] received his knighthood”. Field told the chamber that the time had come for Green to face up to his “mega, mega, mega-moral responsibility”.

In the wake of the damning BHS report Theresa May has promised to “reform capitalism” and stamp out irresponsible corporate behaviour. But the prime minister’s spokesman said Green’s knighthood was a matter for the forfeiture committee: “It’s a completely independent body and it doesn’t give us any guidance on what it is looking at. MPs have had their say but it’s a matter for the committee.”

At the start of this week Green had made a fresh appeal to his former employees, stating he was “very, very, very sorry” for the collapse of BHS and claiming that his advisers are close to brokering a deal with the Pensions Regulator that would avoid a rescue by the pension protection fund (PPF). However earlier this week the Pensions Regulator issued a statement that indicated a deal was still some way off as it was “yet to receive a comprehensive and credible written proposal” from the Green camp.