Sir Philip Green will be chatting with MPs tomorrow after all
After a few days of doubt, Sir Philip Green has today confirmed that he will attend a hearing with MPs to discuss the collapse of BHS after all.
There was some speculation that the Arcadia boss would bow out of his scheduled meeting after last week calling for the chair of the Work and Pensions select committee to stand down, claiming that Frank Field had a "bias against" him.
"I am not prepared to participate in a process which has not even the pretence of fairness and objectivity and which has as its primary objective the destruction of my reputation," Green said at the time.
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However, a statement from the business tycoon, published today, revealed that although he was "disappointed" not to have had a reply to the letters he had sent to Field, "having given long and hard thought to the matter however, [he had] decided [he] will attend tomorrow morning, hoping and trusting that the committee will give [him] a fair hearing".
Green continued: "This will be the first and only opportunity I have had to tell my side of the very sad BHS story and I will do my best to answer all the questions put to me in an honest and open way."
When BHS was put into administration in April, placing around 11,000 jobs on the line, it sparked two parliamentary inquiries.
The Work and Pensions committee is examining the role of pensions regulation and protection in light of the retailer's pension deficit, which was worth £571m at the time it collapsed.
Read more: What to expect from Sir Philip Green's appearance before MPs tomorrow
Meanwhile, the Business, Innovation and Skills committee is taking a closer look at the £1 sale of BHS to Retail Acquisitions, which took place last year.
Last week, the committees held an evidence session with some of the senior staff from Retail Acquisitions, during which it transpired that former owner Dominic Chappell had once threatened to kill former chief executive Darren Topp if he were to "kick off" about a £1.5m transfer between BHS and BHS Sweden.
Last week's war of words is not the first spat Green and Field have had since the retailer's collapse. As the inquiries began, Green hit out at both Field and the Business committee chair Iain Wright for conducting a "trial by media" and "leaping to conclusions".