Sports Direct bans Labour councillor from board meeting
Sports Direct have banned Labour councillor John Gray from attending its board meetings in what is seen to be a snub to the Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn.
Mike Ashley responded to an attack by Corbyn who said the Sports Direct boss was taking advantage of the UK’s “corrupt system” during the launch of Labour’s General Election campaign on Thursday.
Corby accused Ashley of not paying his staff properly and exploiting them. Now, Labour councillor Gray, who is also the vice-chair of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF), has been told he is no longer welcome at Sports Direct’s December board meeting, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Sports Direct reportedly wrote a letter to the councillor on Friday evening, which said: ““It was disappointing to read in the press yesterday the personal and unfounded attacks against Mr Ashley made by Jeremy Corbyn.”
“In line with Mr Corbyn’s complete lack of understanding of the state of UK retail, he should be reminded that the sector is a huge employer for the nation, and that it is one of the few sectors where there is no glass ceiling.
“Indeed as an example many senior management members of staff at Sports Direct, past and present, started on the shop floor. Thus his views on Mike Ashley and Sports Direct contradict his socialist utopia.”
Ashley originally said he would welcome those from outside of the Sports Direct empire to board meetings after the company was criticised over working conditions in September.
Gray, who is a Labour councillor in London, replied to Ashley saying he would like to attend.
He has responded to the new move banning him from attending by saying: “I’m really disappointed. We have made critical but constructive comments about the governance arrangement of Sports Direct over the years, which we believe is unsatisfactory; why the organisation got in trouble over awful labour rights, is it symptom of wider problem; the massive £600m bill; the accountants who walked off.
“I’ve had engagement with a number of large companies over the years. I happen to be a Labour concillor but in my role as vice-chair, I represent the pension funds. I have never been challenged in that capacity.
“I get it, there is an election and it’s a crazy world but our [LAPFF] chair is an independent councillor, so if there’s a problem with me, which I don’t accept, then what about he asks our chairman to attend?”
The move comes after Labour said it would call for an end to tax regimes that allow people to become billionaires.
