Phillip Green and the British Home Stores debacle

Well it seems Sir Phillip Green, likes to dodge the bullet by not answering questions and looking pretty pathetic. He sat there on his own, maybe looking a little vulernable, yet immediately behind him the first row of seats appeared to be occupied primarily by suited and booted men. I wondered whether these were part of Green's gang. They had not been called up, but they were there to witness and their presence to provide moral support. Indeed it might of been better had he a few additional supporters sat with him. Maybe there would of been some answers then. Or perhaps his wife should of been present, given she has her name inscribed on most documentation. And she is being paid £20 million every year from BHS, in something difficult to grasp, considering she has likely not stepped in a BHS store in her life. With another £108 million yet to be paid to her. Of course it doesn't take a genius to know his wife's involvement is only for tax dodging purposes.

The Commons Select Committee tried desperately to get answers from Green but he just held his hands up saying in terms a market trader would, accepting the buck but at the same time saying it wasn't me.  Deferring responsibly for as much as he possibly could. This behaviour was clearly contradictory. You could tell he was been rattled for he kept answering and ending with the word "right" as if to emphasise a point. Just like a drunk would do in the pub. He failed to answer what his responsibility or liability for the BHS pension scheme.  He knew a contribution had to be made but just didn't bother while the company was in his ownership. The little he would do was far too small and far too late.  Many times in answering questions Green tried to direct the committee to where he wanted them to go to give his point,  to say he'd done his best and repeatedly read from some papers the balance sheet of BHS. Green didn't know the answers or if he did was not going to admit to them.  Green's memory was conveniently failing him and when one MP said were they in a position of having to attend a committee they would of done their homework first. But Green was impervious to this preferring not to answer why. Yet he must of been watching every second of earlier select committee meetings because he referred to them.

One of the most astounding things was to learn the extent of the dividends BHS had paid out to share holders. So large it was no doubt a contributor to the downfall of the company. Oh yes he says he invested in BHS, but certainly not enough. You could conclude  to keep the business running profitably he was not doing enough with the possibility it was intentional. But who is to know what his intentions were, perhaps not even Green because his memory of events is worse than a third hand sieve at a car boot sale.

Does Green give a toss about the pensioners?  As Shakespeare said, this is the question, to be or not to be?  Why did he not be involved in this part of his business? Green was not going to answer this. He states there was an agreement where he would put additional monies into the pensions fund, it was like he had made an undocumented hand shake agreement.  He had deliberately delayed contributing to Project Thor, because it would of effected the business. Green had sold BHS to Dominic Chappel for the poultry sum of £1 but during the committee hearing Green talked as though he still owned BHS and he would still seek a solution to the pension crisis. If only he would be allowed a phone call. In persistent questions from an MP on the question of pensions Green pleaded with the chair such questions should not be asked because of his ongoing intention to do something. Like a small boy who was guilty of stealing biscuits before his dinner, Green again did his best to avoid any conclusion to the committee. Chappel expected BHS to be debt free and pension free, but of course from a previous committee session Chappel was clearly in the business just for himself and didn't give an iota while he to was taking millions out of the business.

Perhaps at the end of this Green might of done something concrete to help those employees in the BHS pension scheme, however given his history any solution would likely be meaningless. It is a sad state of affairs and you may conclude these business people have shown how negligence works  and how it is the innocent who are affected not the decision makers.