Lord Hain defends decision to ‘out’ Sir Philip Green as businessman behind sexism and racism claims

Patrick Grafton-Green26 October 2018

Former cabinet minister Lord Hain has defended his decision to "out" retail tycoon Sir Philip Green as the businessman behind allegations of sexual harassment and racial abuse.

The Labour peer told BBC Two's Newsnight he had received "overwhelming support, particularly from women".

Sir Philip has "categorically and wholly" denied being guilty of any "unlawful sexual or racist behaviour", in a statement issued hours after the peer's dramatic intervention in the House of Lords.

Speaking to Newsnight, Lord Hain explained his decision to speak out, saying: "What concerned me about this case was wealth, and power that comes with it, and abuse. And that was what led me to act in the way that I did.

"It's for others to judge whether I've been right or wrong.

"But there's no point in being in Westminster - which is the sovereign centre of the British constitution, has sovereignty and with it the parliamentary privilege that is a privilege... if you never discharge that; if you never deploy the precious rights of parliamentary privilege."

Sir Philip Green - In pictures

1/35

He stressed that the cloak of privilege should be used "extremely carefully with integrity and very responsibly - never just loosely".

Lord Hain used parliamentary privilege to name the Topshop owner after Court of Appeal judges temporarily barred The Daily Telegraph from publishing "confidential information" from five employees about a figure described only as a "leading businessman".

Lord Hain speaking in the House of Lords on Thursday
PA

The paper wants to reveal "alleged sexual harassment and racial abuse of staff" who have been prevented from discussing their claims by non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

Lord Hain told peers he had been contacted by someone "intimately involved" in the case and felt it was his duty to use parliamentary privilege to name Sir Philip.

"Having been contacted by somebody intimately involved in the case of a powerful businessman using non-disclosure agreements and substantial payments to conceal the truth about serious and repeated sexual harassment, racist abuse and bullying, which is compulsively continuing, I feel it's my duty under parliamentary privilege to name Philip Green as the individual in question given that the media have been subject to an injunction preventing publication of the full details of a story which is clearly in the public interest," he said.

Sir Philip, chairman of Arcadia Group, whose brands include Topshop, Topman, Wallis, Evans, Burton, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Outfit, responded in a statement.

He said: "I am not commenting on anything that has happened in court or was said in Parliament today.

"To the extent that it is suggested that I have been guilty of unlawful sexual or racist behaviour, I categorically and wholly deny these allegations.

"Arcadia and I take accusations and grievances from employees very seriously and in the event that one is raised, it is thoroughly investigated.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in