BHS: Frank Field dimisses call from Sir Philip Green to resign from inquiry over 'bias' against him

The chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee has rejected a call to resign from Sir Philip Green, who accused the MP of attempting to destroy his reputation over the sale of BHS.

Sir Philip wrote a letter to Frank Field MP - head of the Commons inquiry into the collapse of BHS - denouncing his conduct saying he was "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".

In the letter, seen by The Independent, the former BHS owner said: "I therefore require you to resign immediately from this inquiry.

"You are not the Pensions Regulator and you have no power over the Pensions Regulator.

"Anything to do with the resolution of the BHS pension issues is in their jurisdiction and not yours and your continued participation in the inquiry will serve only to obstruct a resolution".

The department store chain went into administration last month, leaving a £571m deficit in its pension scheme. In his letter Sir Philip referred to comments Mr Field made to the Financial Times saying the retail magnate should give £600m to the pension fund and if he offered anything less "the committee would laugh at him".

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Sir Philip suggested he would not attend a committee hearing scheduled for Wednesday unless Mr Field stepped down. A spokesman for Sir Philip's retail group Arcadia later clarified his position to the BBC, saying Sir Philip was waiting to see how Mr Field replies to his letter before deciding whether to attend.

Responding to reports of the letter on Saturday, Mr Field said: “We appreciate that Sir Philip is trying to set up a deal for the pension fund, but £600 million is the size of the deficit. That's not jumping to any conclusion, that is a fact.

“We very much look forward to hearing his side of the story on Wednesday,” he added.

Sir Philip is the subject of inquiries by the Work and Pensions Select Committee, the Business, Innovation and Trade Select Committee, the Insolvency Service and the Pensions Regulator over the collapse of BHS putting 11,000 jobs at risk.

Sir Philip has been heavily criticised in some quarters for selling the struggling retail chain to a group of investors led by Dominic Chappell, who was formerly bankrupt, for £1 last year. Earlier this week MPs called for him to be stripped of his knighthood.

Last week, the administrator for BHS, Duff & Phelps, said it had “not been possible” to agree a sale because all the prospective buyers did not have the “working capital” needed to rescue the firm.

In a previous letter to Mr Field and his counterpart on the BIS select committee, Iain Wright, Sir Philip accused the MPs of conducting a "trial by media" against him.

He said the pair were "leaping to conclusions before any evidence from any witness has been heard".

Elsewhere, Business Minister Anna Soubry tweeted on Saturday that “Sir Philip needs to understand Parliament is the boss, get a grip & get in front of the committee on Weds”.