Sir Philip Green calls on one of the MPs chairing the BHS inquiry to resign

Sir Philip Green has called for Frank Fields MP to resign. Credit: PA Wire

On Wednesday June 15th Sir Philip Green is scheduled to appear before the two select committees of MPs that are jointly investigating the failure of BHS.

Now there is some doubt whether or not Sir Philip is intending to appear.

I have seen a letter that Green sent to the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, Frank Field, in which he accuses the MP of "bias" and doing his "very best to destroy my reputation".

The letter is published below and speaks for itself.

. Credit: Green

You may recall that the men last clashed publicly in May when Field told the Financial Times he would recommend stripping Green of his knighthood if the former owner of BHS didn't come up with the £571 million require to fund the buy out of the deficit in the company's final salary pension scheme.

Once again it is Field's comments in an article in the FT, published on Friday evening, that appear to have upset Green.

The last paragraph of Green's letter is carefully worded: "I am not prepared to participate in a process which has not even the pretence of fairness and objectivity" and he calls for Field to "resign immediately".

Video report by ITV New's Business Editor Joel Hills:

He signs off: "I await your urgent response so as not to disrupt next week's evidence session". He suggests (but doesn't state) that unless Field stands down he will not attend the session on Wednesday to answer MPs questions.

Business Minister, Anna Soubry, has already responded.

"Sir Philip needs to understand parliament is the boss, get a grip and get in front of the cameras" she wrote on Twitter.

Frank Field was not available for comment but the Chair of the Business, Innovation and Skill Committee, Iain Wright MP, which is jointly holding the inquiry, told me he felt sure that Sir Philip would be keen to appear to put his side of the story.

"He has a lot of questions to answer and I'm sure he won't want the accusation thrown at him that he has something to hide and is looking for excuses not to appear," Wright told me.