Sir Philip Green: Stop using me as a 'political football'

Sir Philip Green has complained of being used as a "political football" after MP Frank Field warned he might still be stripped of his knighthood despite his £363m BHS pension scheme settlement.

The retail billionaire fired off a strongly-worded letter to Mr Field accusing him of being "vindictive" and abusing his parliamentary position.

He said he objected to the "personal attack" by the Labour MP, chair of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee, which grilled the tycoon over BHS's collapse last year.

The letter comes a year to the day after BHS collapsed into administration , putting 11,000 employees out of work and leaving 19,000 facing shortfalls in retirement earnings - and likely to have to fall back on the Pension Protection Fund (PPF (Shenzhen: 300258.SZ - news) ) lifeboat scheme.

Sir Philip said: "I made a commitment to your committee that I would sort the BHS pensions issue.

"I have done what I said I would do and I have put the pensioners in a considerably better position than they would have been in had they stayed in the PPF."

It follows comments at the weekend by Mr Field that Sir Philip "remains on the hook" and that a case against him would resume after the election.

He said it would show "how inadequate" Sir Philip's pensions settlement was and that the businessman "has not done enough to hold on to his knighthood".

The businessman, whose Arcadia retail empire includes Top Shop and Dorothy Perkins, said in February that he was paying £363m into the BHS pension schemes in a deal that saw The Pensions Regulator withdraw claims against him.

Sir Philip and others linked to the business had been pursued by the regulator in the wake of the retailer's collapse in 2016 - following his sale of BHS the year before to former bankrupt Dominic Chappell in 2015.

In his latest letter, the businessman accused Mr Field of making an "unnecessary and wholly unwarranted" personal attack.

He said: "I strongly object to your vindictive behaviour in using me as your political football.

"I don't believe, in your role as chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, you should be abusing your Parliamentary position in this manner."

It is the latest spat between Sir Philip and Mr Field.

MPs (BSE: MPSLTD.BO - news) voted in October to strip the businessman of his knighthood though any decision on whether to annul of the honour would be taken on the advice of the Prime Minister, who would receive advice from the honours forfeiture committee.