We’re all p***ed off with Sir Philip Green but we should be proud of British business
BRITISH business finds itself in the dock because of the collapse of retailer BHS and the behaviour of Sir Philip Green.
But the “unacceptable face of capitalism”, as MPs described him, does not mean that capitalism is to blame.
That would be grossly unfair on the vast majority of businesses that are vital to the wellbeing of this country.
First we must distinguish between the failure of BHS and the behaviour of Green when he sold the business.
Unfortunately, companies do fail in democratic capitalism around the world for many different reasons.
That might include management incompetence but, by and large, they don’t fail because someone was “at it”.
Woolworths failed because the buying public changed their habits and their tastes and, sadly for the 11,000 BHS staff who are losing their jobs, it might be that in this case the general public simply passed BHS by.
But that is different to Green’s behaviour in disposing of the company.
To my knowledge, I don’t think he has done anything illegal but I think that when you succeed in business and you have a position of power and/or money, that comes with responsibility.
I would say: “Come on, Philip. You knew what you were doing. You were selling this to someone who, frankly, you knew wasn’t going to be any good at it and you knew that there was a massive great pensions liability out there.”
He should have plugged that £571million hole. This guy’s a billionaire.
What are you going to do with the money, mate? Do you want to be the richest guy in the graveyard?
He could have sorted this out and he could have been an emblem of responsible capitalism.
He could have said: “I’ve made a load of dough out of this. It’s not my fault that everyone is living longer, it’s not my fault that there is a deficit in the scheme.
"But I can do something about it and, although I am selling the company, I can make sure that the pension fund is in surplus when I leave.”
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Frankly, he would not have missed that money and he would have discharged his moral duty to behave in a way that sets an example for business.
But to judge everyone else by his behaviour is wrong.
Ninety-nine per cent of the businesswomen and businessmen in this country are as p***ed off with Sir Philip Green as I am.
They risk their houses guaranteeing bank debts. They don’t see much of their families because they are working so hard.
They take risks. They provide employment for a lot of people.
And they generate profits that pay tax that builds our schools and hospitals.
That is how incredibly important business is to Britain and if we allow the Corbynistas to start saying that business is rubbish then God help this country.
Nor will placing unions on boards be the answer (for that is what will happen — not genuine workers but full-time, politically motivated shop stewards).
Theresa May, ditch that idea!
Jeremy Corbyn in the boardroom? Momentum passing trade secrets to those who hate capitalism? I don’t think so!
Facebook will rightly say: “Just a minute, we are complying with the law here." So I would say to our Prime Minister Theresa May: “Change the law!”
It’s not just the small and medium-sized enterprises.
Look at the fabulous work that some huge companies have done in Britain — Nissan, JLR, Honda, Toyota. They behave responsibly.
The antics of Volkswagen with its emissions fiddling, or some banks, or Green’s behaviour, or the tax affairs of companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook just give business a bad name when actually 99 per cent of businesses are fed up with them.
I saw that Facebook, which turns over billions in Britain, paid just over £4,000 in corporation tax last year.
Most Sun readers will have paid more tax than that.
Facebook will rightly say: “Just a minute, we are complying with the law here.”
So I would say to our Prime Minister Theresa May: “Change the law!”
Change the law so tax is assessed, albeit at a lower rate, on the activity in the country not on the declared profit in the country.
We’ve got to change the law so firms can’t take advantage
I notice that Green said in his evidence that BHS had paid every penny of tax that was due in the UK.
He was telling the truth but what he had made sure was that not a lot of tax was due in the UK.
I think we have got to change the law here so that the Googles and the Facebooks and the Philip Greens of this world can’t take advantage.
At the same time we have got to say to these people, if you want governments in any democratic society — whether here, in America or Germany or France — to actually cut you some slack and help you create wealth then you have got to meet them halfway.
That might mean curbing executive pay.
But one way or another, you have got to behave in a way that enables people to be proud of business — as most British firms can be very proud of themselves.
-- Lord Digby Jones is former Director General of the CBI and ex-Trade and Investment minister