Philip Green isn't the only villain in town

Before politicians start casting rocks at the former owner of beleaguered retailer BHS, they should take a look at themselves, says Merryn Somerset Webb.

When Philip Green bought BHS back in the early 1990s he had a choice. As Patrick Hosking points out in The Times, he could have looked at the company as a long-term proposition. He could have invested in training, reburbishment, and in the online business, in the hope of being one of the better of the high-street survivors.

However, he could also have "made a dash for cash" loading up with debt, selling assets and extracting every single penny of profit there was. He mostly did the latter. Today, BHS, laden down with bank debt and a vast pension deficit, is in administration; its pension fund has landed in the lap of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF); and Green is generally recognised to be the biggest villain in town.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.