Environment chief Sir Philip Dilley defends claim he was 'at home' while in Barbados during flooding crisis

The embattled chairman of the Environment Agency has attracted scorn for claiming he felt “at home” in Barbados, as he sought to explain why he sanctioned a statement suggesting he was in the UK over Christmas.

In his first public comments since the controversy over his whereabouts, Sir Philip Dilley – who had in fact been on holiday on the Caribbean island – failed to apologise for the misleading statement about his location.

Nor was he sorry for being out of the country while the North of England suffered hugely debilitating floods.

Instead, he accounted for the claim that he was “at home with his family” over Christmas by saying that Barbados felt like it fitted this description because it is where his wife is from.

“I do have two homes. My wife is from the Caribbean. When I’m there, I don’t feel I’m away – I feel I’m at home,” he said. “I do keep in regular contact, I work from there,” he told the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

Sir Philip, who took the £100,000-a-year, three-days-a-week role in 2014, appeared to distance himself from the controversial statement at the same time as taking responsibility for it.

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However, he spoke of his regret that the resulting furore had diverted attention from the floods.

“One of my biggest regrets is that the focus on me has detracted from what really matters… that was indeed unfortunate. That expression [press statement] that was put out. Lots of things are written for me and sent to me for approval. I saw it, I approved it, it was my problem,” he said.

Sir James Bevan, the Environment Agency’s chief executive, also told the committee that he regretted the misleading press release.

With hindsight, he said, the statement “should have been clearer” – before adding that his focus had been on dealing with the floods rather than drafting statements for the press.

During the committee hearing, Sir Philip also refused to rule out returning to the family home in Barbados next Christmas, saying: “I don’t have any plans yet and I will see but I just said I learnt some lessons.”

He sought to play down the importance of his role in helping Britain battle the floods, arguing that his job is not so much of a day-to-day position as “to get the board working as a team and to hold the executives to account”. He added: “I know none of my actions detracted from the performance of the agency.”

Nonetheless, Sir Philip admitted it would have been better to return to Britain earlier than he did – on 30 December. “In hindsight it would have been much better if I had come back as soon as I could which is one or two days earlier,” he said.

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Sir Philip’s decision to spend Christmas at his holiday home, outside Bridgetown in Barbados, contrasted with his words prior to taking up the job. He told The Independent he had learned from the mistakes of his predecessor, Lord Smith, who was lambasted for taking so long to get to Somerset during that year’s floods.

And asked by The Independent in December 2014 about the need for a prompt visit to flood scenes, Sir Philip said: “Frankly, whether Chris Smith is there in his wellingtons, or I’m there in my wellingtons, isn’t really going to make much difference… [but] I chair the board of the agency and I agree there is a sort of figurehead position that is crucial for perception”.