Karren Brady quits Philip Green’s empire amid controversy

Baroness Karren Brady has resigned her job as non-executive chairman of Taveta, the holding company for Sir Philip Green’s retail empire.

It comes after allegations of sexual harassment and racial abuse of staff by Sir Philip were reported earlier this month, accusations he strongly denies.

Baroness Brady had earlier resisted pressure to step down, saying she felt “a real sense of duty” to staff at Taveta, including her own daughter.

She had been chairman since July 2017.

Baroness Brady was made a life peer in 2014 and sits on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords.

She also runs a business leadership firm through the website strongfemaleleadership.com.

The firm said Sharon Brown had also resigned as non-executive director of Taveta, which owns the Arcadia group.

“Taveta thanks them for their contribution and wishes them well for the future,” the company said.

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Earlier this month, Sir Philip dropped legal action against the Daily Telegraph newspaper, which had been prevented from publishing accounts of his alleged misconduct towards five employees.

The paper subsequently reported that he paid a female employee more than £1m to keep quiet after she accused him of kissing and groping her.

After the allegations became public, Baroness Brady came under pressure to step down from her post at Taveta.

But she responded by saying that she would stay in her post because she felt “a real sense of duty” to the 20,000 people working at Taveta.

She said at the time in a statement issued through her public relations team: “I want to be 100% clear – I have always been an outspoken defender of women’s rights in the workplace and always will be.

“As chairman of Taveta, I am extremely proud of our people, our customers and our brands. My primary concern are the 20,000 people who work there, of which over 85% are women.”