Topshop billionaire Sir Philip Green drops legal injunction against the Telegraph

A High Court judge has officially dropped Sir Philip Green's legal injunction against the Daily Telegraph.

The Arcadia chairman had previously prevented the newspaper from publishing allegations of misconduct against five employees, including alleged sexual harassment and racial abuse.

Mr Justice Warby granted the Topshop billionaire his request to discontinue the injunction on Friday, just days before the case was due to go to trial.

Read more: Sir Philip Green abandons legal action against the Telegraph

Sir Philip, who denies the allegations, said he wanted to drop the case because it was “pointless” after he was named in parliament as the businessman behind the injunction.

He also claimed that the Telegraph has a “vendetta” against him and that reporters had been “harrassing” staff and their families.

Warby also said that Sir Philip's pursuit of legal action over the past few months had been “well outside the norm”, but he did not make a ruling on whether the confidentiality of an non-disclosure agreement (NDA) was enough to outweigh potential public interest in whistle-blowing on sexual and racial abuse.

Sir Philip has been ordered to pay a £3m legal bill, according to the Telegraph, which covers the majority of the newspaper's costs after the lengthy legal process regarding the injunction, though a spokesperson for Sir Philip refused to confirm this.

The Telegraph will now publish details of the claims made against the billionaire, who along with his wife Cristina, are said to be worth £3.8bn, despite the claimants having signed NDAs.

The paper also said it will reveal a supposed cover up of the alleged incidents by Arcadia.

Chris Evans, the editor of The Telegraph said: “We are delighted the injunction has been lifted but our campaign against the misuse of NDAs goes on. And now, we look to the government to act.

"In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein affair, we became aware that gagging orders called NDAs were being used to cover up allegations of sexual misconduct and racial abuse in the workplace. And that led to our investigation into Sir Philip Green and Arcadia.

"We maintain there is a clear public interest in telling people whether a prospective employer has been accused of abuse."

The newspaper has already published recordings of phone calls between Sir Philip and the paper, in which they claim that he was “aggressive” and “threatened to bankrupt the editor”.

Following the dropping of the injunction, news outlets are able to report that Sir Philip is at the centre of the allegations of misconduct, but in a statement the retail magnate has urged those who agreed to NDAs to abide by them.

“The ruling recognised that the signatories to the non-disclosure agreements have ongoing obligations to honour those agreements, which they entered into willingly after receiving full independent legal advice about their rights and responsibilities,” a statement from Sir Philip and Arcadia said.

The statement also said that Lord Peter Hain was under investigation by the House of Lords Commissioner Standards for revealing Sir Philip's identity in parliament. 

Sir Philip added that the Telegraph should “respect the NDAs” in place with the alleged victims or it would “expose their sources to potential further legal actions and significant losses”.

Read more: Philip Green set for Telegraph court fight in bid to uncover its sources

Evans responded by saying: "Sir Philip has described the allegations against him as no more than banter. If that’s so, he should release his accusers from their NDAs and allow them to speak freely.

"The Prime Minister has already indicated that she is uneasy with the way in which NDAs have been used. We ask her now to do something about it."