Sir Philip Green complaint against Lord Hain gets dismissed

Sir Philip Green’s complaints against a peer who named him as the man at the centre of sexual harassment and racial abuse allegations were dismissed this afternoon.

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The House of Lords standards body has dismissed a complaint from the retail tycoon that former Northern Ireland secretary Lord Hain failed to declare an interest when he named Green as the subject of conduct allegations.

This afternoon Lord Hain said: "Sir Philip's complaint always was a malevolent ruse to divert attention from the harassment allegations against him by his employees.

"I'm grateful to the standards commissioner for finding that the complaint was entirely false."

House of Lords standards commissioner Lucy Scott-Moncrieff said that the Labour peer had taken the action on moral grounds, without close examination of the legal circumstances.

Green had criticised Lord Hain for failing to reveal links as a paid adviser to law firm Ince Gordon Dadds, which had also been working with the Telegraph in its efforts to name the Topshop owner.

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However, Scott-Moncrieff said that Lord Hain had consistently maintained he was unaware of the link.