Sir Philip Green drops ‘gagging’ legal action

Sir Philip Green has dropped legal action against the Daily Telegraph, which prevented the newspaper publishing details of allegations of sexual harassment and racist behaviour.

Last October, the Telegraph published a story saying a prominent businessman had been accused of harassment.

The Top Shop boss was later named as the businessman in the House of Lords.

As a result, Sir Philip said he had been the subject of “vicious” and “untrue” personal attacks in the media.

The statement also said that Sir Philip is “not guilty of unlawful sexual or racist behaviour”.

At the time the allegations first surfaced, Sir Philip acknowledged there had “been some banter”, but said it had “never been offensive”.

Sir Philip’s representative would not say why the businessman had dropped the legal action.

“Due to the ongoing confidentiality obligations and injunction still in place, Arcadia and Sir Philip cannot comment on the detail of any allegations, but confirm that any grievances are treated with the utmost seriousness and are investigated thoroughly in accordance with best practice,” the statement said.

Sir Philip used to be known as the king of the High Street – but he was later branded the “unacceptable face of capitalism”.

He built a fortune from a retail empire that included Topshop, BHS, Burton and Miss Selfridge.

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BHS – the retail chain he sold in March 2015 for £1 – went into administration a year later, leaving a £571m hole in its pension fund.

He later agreed a £363m cash settlement with the Pensions Regulator to plug the gap.

He and his wife Cristina are estimated by Forbes to be worth £3.8bn.