Mike Ashley tells critical MPs - 'You should apologise to me'

Sports Direct founder dismisses concerns of ‘showboating’ parliamentarians

‘Nothing to hide’? Mike Ashley at Sports Direct’s warehouse in Shirebrook, Derbyshire (PA)

Mike Ashley, the billionaire founder of Sports Direct, has dismissed a committee of MPs as a “joke” in his most hostile outburst to date in a stand-off with parliamentarians over his refusal to appear before them to answer questions on his treatment of workers.

The incendiary comments come just days after the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee formally summoned Mr Ashley to give testimony on 7 June about workplace policies at the UK’s biggest sporting goods retailer. Areas of concern focus on the rampant use of zero-hours contracts and the treatment of workers at the company’s Shirebrook warehouse in Derbyshire, where employees had previously been searched after each shift, causing them to earn less than the minimum wage.

Mr Ashley re-iterated his intention not to travel to Westminster in a confrontational media interview.

Addressing the committee directly, he said: “Come here and see it for yourself. You will have to apologise once you’ve been here … They [committee members] would make a lot more informed decision if they were able to see it for themselves and then I don’t think they would actually need to want to see me and carry on the media circus.

“They clearly don’t care about the people at Sports Direct. In my opinion they are just showboating. In my opinion they are actually a joke.”

The dispute follows a prolonged back-and-forth between the two parties, in which MPs warned the Newcastle United owner he risked being found in contempt of Parliament if he failed to agree to any of the dates offered to him.

Mr Ashley, who had invited the MPs to Sport Direct’s Derbyshire site as an alternative, has in turn described the committee’s behaviour as “disgusting” and an “abuse of parliamentary process”.

Iain Wright, chair of the committee, yesterday said he was “very disappointed that Mr Ashley has refused to accept the committee’s reasonable request to come and give evidence in parliament.

“It is telling that he chose to give his response to the media rather than to the committee directly. We will be discussing this matter at the next committee meeting on Tuesday.”

The next step could be to set in motion contempt of Parliament proceedings, though these centuries-old powers have never been tested in modern times.

It is not the first time MPs have tried to get Mr Ashley to give evidence. He had previously been called to answer questions over the collapse of Sports Direct subsidiary USC, where workers were given 15 minutes’ notice that they were going to lose their jobs. He claimed to be too busy to attend.

Sports Direct was forced to defend its work practices late last year, after allegations emerged about its treatment of warehouse staff. As well as being kept behind for searches on their own time, workers were said to have been named and shamed over loudspeakers for not working fast enough.

The firm later said Mr Ashley would personally oversee a review of staff conditions, the outcome of which was delivered yesterday. The retailer said all staff and agency workers would be paid above the minimum wage at a cost of around £10m. Those over 25 will get £7.40 an hour – 20p more than the national living wage.

It added that it had completed work to “minimise any bottlenecks” at security checkpoints amid building work, and that none of its Shirebrook staff are currently on zero-hours contracts, though some store staff still use them.

“Sports Direct has nothing to hide,” Mr Ashley said.