Frank Field – the man who took on Sir Philip Green, and won

Frank Field has led the charge in some of the most high-profile crusades against British businessmen in recent times.

As chair of the powerful pensions select committee, the veteran MP’s most notable campaign was fought against retail tycoon Sir Philip Green over the collapse of BHS.

Sir Philip owned the retailer for 15 years before selling it to serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell in 2015.

It collapsed one year later, leaving in its wake 11,000 job losses and a £571 million pension black hole.

An enraged Mr Field immediately set about pursuing Sir Philip with the aim of clawing back cash for pensioners.

After hauling the billionaire to parliament and subjecting him to an hours-long roasting, and after a very public war of words, Sir Philip agreed to pay £363 million towards the pension deficit.

More recently, Mr Field has trained his guns on another corporate debacle, that of Carillion.

The outsourcer’s liquidation in January left a £900 million debt pile and hundreds of millions of pounds in unfinished public contracts, as well a £800 million pension deficit.

Mr Field has argued that Carillion’s pensioners, suppliers and employees have borne the brunt of its failure, while former directors and the firm’s auditors have raked in millions.

In characteristic tone, the MP for Birkenhead earlier this year savaged Britain’s big four accountancy firms – KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and EY – accusing them of “feasting on the carcass” of Carillion and collecting more than £70 million in the process.