A Sky News reporter and his cameraman clashed with retail tycoon Sir Philip Green as they confronted him over the collapse of BHS.
Reporter David Bowden tracked down Green’s £100m super yacht, moored off the Greek island of Ithaca, but was kept at bay by staff.
Bowden later encountered the billionaire on shore resulting in a scuffle on camera. Here’s how it played out:
Green: “I’m going to call the police.”
Bowden: “Sir Philip, people want to know why you’re on holiday when you’re supposed to be sorting out the pension deficit.”
G: “Will you go away?”
B: “Why won’t you talk to me?”
G: “Will you go away?”
B: “I will go away. You can squirt me with water if you –”
G: “Go away.”
B: “Why won’t you just answer a couple of questions?”
G: “Go away”
B: “Have you got a message for the –”
G: “Which bit are you not understanding? Go away, just go away.”
B: “Hang on, there’s no need for any violence. We are asking you questions.”
G: “That’s going to go in the fucking sea. Get off.”
Green has appeared before a parliamentary select committee over his sale of the home store company to Dominic Chappell for £1.
An inquiry into the sale and acquisition of BHS by the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee said: “Sir Philip chose to rush through the offloading of a beleaguered high street institution, losing money and encumbered with a massive pension fund deficit, to a buyer who he was clearly aware was ‘manifestly unsuitable’, with Sir Philip forced to finance the sale himself.”
So far 106 BHS stores have closed, resulting in mass redundancies, while a pension deficit of £571m remains.
Iain Wright, Labour MP and co-chairman of the select committee told the Guardian there had been frustratingly little progress since Green appeared in front of MPs two months ago.
“We don’t want this story to go away,” he added.