The Guardian view on Philip Green: time to lose the Sir
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Version 0 of 1. When MPs debate this Thursday whether Sir Philip Green should retain his knighthood, they should recall article 172 of the Companies Act 2006. In the event that the provision has slipped anyone’s memory, here comes the refresher. A company director, it says, must “have regard” to “the likely consequences of any decision in the long term”, “the interests of … employees”, “suppliers, customers and others”. Those strictures passed into law in 2006, the year Tony Blair honoured Mr Green for services to retail. So how did the high-street tycoon do at BHS? MPs need look no further than the joint report, published in July, from their colleagues on the work and pensions select committee and the business, innovation and skills committee. It notes that Sir Philip “systematically extracted hundreds of millions of pounds from BHS, paying very little tax and fantastically enriching himself and his family, leaving the company and its pension fund weakened to the point of the inevitable collapse of both”. The result is that 11,000 workers have now lost their jobs and 20,000 pensioners are unclear how they will eke out their retirement. Reading that report, it is impossible to believe that Sir Philip successfully complied with the Companies Act. It is just as hard to believe that one of the most honoured businessmen of modern times deserves his honours. MPs should vote to strip him of his knighthood. The forfeiture committee is already considering such a call from a Labour MP. This amendment has been tabled by a Conservative, Richard Fuller (who was told by Sir Philip to “stop staring” at him during his hearing). It would be apt if MPs of all parties, and especially from the frontbenches, supported it. As surely as vastly expensive night follows day, Sir Philip’s lawyers today accused MPs of serious errors in their report. They argued that the select committee process was “unfair” and that Sir Philip’s decision to unload BHS on to serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell was an “honest mistake”. But a parliamentary inquiry is not a judicial one. MPs are entitled to have views. Our honours system is a guide to the values of the country. Britain must not hold up as a model a tax-avoiding, under-investing, get-rich-quick merchant who ran a well-loved business into the ground. Philip Green should no longer be referred to as Sir. And MPs should ensure that regulators hold directors to their obligations under article 172 of the Companies Act. |