Vice chair Brady accused of hypocrisy

  • by Staff Writer
  • Wednesday, 13th February 2019

West Ham United vice chairman Karren Brady has been accused of hypocrisy for standing by disgraced Arcadia Group chairman Philip Green.

Green was recently accused of paying off former employees who accused him of acting improperly - including a female member of staff who he is said to have groped and a black employee who the business tycoon told was "throwing spears in the jungle".

He is also reported to have theatened Daily Telegraph staff with bankruptcy after the newspaper printed the allegations last week.

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Yet despite his long history of abuse and intimidation towards his employees and others, Brady - who is the chairman of Taveta Investments Ltd, a holding company for many of Green's fashion brands including the Arcadia Group - has refused to resign.

In a statement given to the Telegraph by her agent, the self-appointed pioneer of women in the workplace insisted that it would be wrong to stand down from her role at Teveta.

"You want Baroness Brady to resign from Taveta but she feels a real sense of duty to the 20,000 people who work there, one of which is her daughter, to remain in post," read the statement.

"I hope you would agree that walking away is the easy thing to do - staying in the role and ensuring the company is robust going forward is much harder.

"She has made significant and lasting changes to the business since she became chairman and will continue to do so, ensuring that the company maintains the standards expected of it."



However the Telegraph's Retail Editor, Ashley Armstrong has lashed out at Brady, accusing her of being "a hypocrite" who champions "a brand of plastic feminism".

"The so-called 'first lady of football' was very quick to join the chorus of outrage about Harvey Weinstein allegations in her regular column in the Sun," wrote Armstrong.

"She referred to him as a 'dirty old man' before warning: 'There is a Harvey Weinstein in every industry - the man at the top who abuses their power, who has no respect for women, who thinks women owe him something'.

"How astute. And yet she has remained silent about the allegations concerning Sir Philip Green’s conduct with female staff.

"By doing nothing she is effectively condoning misogyny while Arcadia employees have to work at a company that stands accused of silencing victims of alleged harassment."

Armstrong added that: "It might be asking too much to expect her to tackle misogyny in the workplace. After all she started her career with pornographers David Gold and David Sullivan, owners of West Ham football club."

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Brady was also criticised by i News writer Simon Kelner, who accused the 49-year-old of dodging her responsibilities.

"How can she possibly be taken seriously as a warrior-woman for equality when she publicly stands by a man who has been accused of slapping his female employees on the bottom, making crude personal remarks about them, and then seeking to bully them if they make an issue of it," he wrote.

"I understand that she has to tread carefully because of legal issues, but, given the severity of the allegations against Green, I just don’t think it’s sustainable for someone in her position not to speak out more stridently on the subject of harassment and unconscionable corporate behaviour."

Brady, who has long claimed to be a champion of female workers previously used her weekly tabloid column to criticise abusive bosses. "Employers who turn a blind eye to repeated reports of assault and harassment become enablers," she wrote.

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