Unlock Editor’s Digest Lock for Free
FT editor Roula Khalaf will select your favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Sir Philip Greene has failed in his attempt to challenge the use of British Parliament’s privileges in the House to link the former Topshop owner with allegations of sexual misconduct in 2018.
Green, who lives in Monaco, has filed a privacy complaint with the European Court of Human Rights, which could undermine the ability of British lawmakers and colleagues to use Parliamentary privileges to reveal confidential details that are subject to injunctions.
In 2018, House Rep. Peer Lord Peter Hein used Congressional privileges to cite Green as a businessman accused of trying to silence staff members who accused them of sexual harassment and bullying. Green denied the allegation.
In a ruling Tuesday morning, the European court unanimously found that the UK avoided a controversial intervention by a Strasbourg judge in the rights of the UK parliament and that the UK has not violated the European treaty on human rights.
The court has found that the UK Parliament in particular should be left to the UK Parliament to determine the control necessary to prevent government members from revealing information subject to privacy injunctions.
It added, “Otherwise it will be carried out against the principles of autonomy of the Congress, which had already considered and rejected the need for further control.”
Congressional privileges grant lawmakers legal immunity to free speech and the ability to report what they say without fear of being sued.
Green, Topshop and its parent company, Arcadia Group, have taken on all aspects to resolve actual and potential employment procedures with previous employees and maintain information relating to the confidentiality of the complaints and settlement, according to court documents.
In July 2018, they applied to the High Court for an injunction that would disrupt the publication of their identity and the facts of the allegations. However, following the publication of a story about a “prominent businessman,” without naming Green, Hein took the floor to say it was “an obligation under the Congressional privilege to nominate Philip Green as the individual in question.”
The disclosure sparked extensive media coverage of many claims by other former employees and Green’s alleged activities. The former retail giant pursued an expensive privacy claim against the Telegraph newspaper and simply dropped it the week before he went to court.
Green is one of the UK’s most famous businessmen. He was often referred to as “The King of High Street,” and rubbed his shoulders with model Kate Moss at the height of Topshop popularity, then night.
Like Arcadia, which owns Topshop and other middle-market fashion chains, including Burton and Dorothy Perkins, Green also owns department store chain BHS. In 2005, Arcadia paid a tax-free dividend of £1.2 billion to Green’s wife, the registered owner of the business.
However, Green’s Fall From Grace has been widely documented since 2015 when it sold its now-deprecated BHS chain to Dominic Chappell for £1.
His Arcadia Empire became bust early in the Covid-19 pandemic, unable to adapt to the shift to online shopping, becoming one of the most well-known retailers in recent years.
Greene did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
