Mike Ashley complains against chairman of 2016 select committee

Mike Ashley has filed a complaint against the former MP who led the parliamentary inquiry into the working conditions at his Shirebrook warehouse.

The billionaire owner of Sports Direct has filed a complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards about the conduct of the former MP for Hartlepool, Ian Wright, during the 2016 inquiry.

Wright chaired the inquiry that found that Ashley had been running his business like a “Victorian warehouse” and subsequently Sports Direct and its employment agencies agreed to award the company’s warehouse workers around £1m in back pay.

Now according to reports Sports Direct has complained that Wright failed to explain a donation he received from the Unite trade union, which provided evidence at the hearing, and so did not act fairly and objectively.

Ashley also argues he was misled about when the select committee would carry out an unannounced inspection of the warehouse.

This is despite a transcript of the parliamentary hearing that is in direct conflict to the claims.

Speaking to the Guardian, Wright, commenting on the claims, said: “I’m more than happy that he is flagging up what I think was a really good piece of work. My colleagues, who were cross party, worked well together to highlight a list of appalling practices. This is obviously still eating him up and he can’t let it go.”