MPs to vote whether to strip Sir Philip Green of knighthood
MPs are set to vote whether to strip former BHS owner Sir Philip Green of his knighthood over the collapse of the firm.
In an historic vote, MPs will decide for the first time on Thursday whether or not to remove a knighthood from a member of the public.
Civil servants on the Honours Forfeiture Committee are already considering whether to strip Sir Philip, the current owner of Topshop, of his title.
The vote comes just two days after the businessman spoke exclusively to ITV News to express his sorrow over the collapse of BHS.
Since BHS went into administration in April, Sir Philip has faced scathing criticism, with many pointing the finger of blame at him for taking big dividends and leaving the company with a huge pension deficit.
In a thinly-veiled attack at the Conservative Party conference earlier this month, Theresa May criticised bosses who “take out massive dividends while knowing that the company pension is about to go bust”.
Now MPs will vote on a motion to strip Sir Philip of his knighthood.
The motion “notes the failure of Sir Philip Green over many years to resolve the deficit in the BHS pension fund; and calls on him to fulfil his promise to do forthwith”.
The amendment then adds “that Philip Green received his knighthood for his services for the retail industry, believes his actions raise the question of whether he should be allowed to continue to be a holder of the honour and calls on the Honours Forfeiture Committee to cancel and annul his knighthood”.
More than 100 MPs from all parties, including former SNP leader Alex Salmond and Labour MP Frank Field, are said to back the motion.
Approximately 50 MPs are believed to want Sir Philip's knighthood to be annulled.
Speaking to ITV News' Robert Peston, Sir Philip said: “This has been a horrible, horrible, horrible period. But at the end of the day I haven’t run away.
“I want to fix this pension solution more than anybody in the world. I believe with good will on both sides we can fix it".