Ashley Threatened With Contempt Of Parliament

Ed Miliband has hit back at Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley after the controversial tycoon said he would like to box his ears.

During last year's general election campaign, the then Labour leader accused Mr Ashley of imposing "Victorian" working conditions in his Sports Direct warehouse.

That prompted Mr Ashley, who is also chairman of relegation-threatened Premier League club Newcastle United, to attack Mr Miliband in a Sky News interview this week.

"I would love to get him in a boxing ring with a pair of gloves on and box his ears, that's what I would like to do," said Mr Ashley when asked about Mr Miliband's comments.

The spat between the Sports Direct boss and the former Labour leader comes as Mr Ashley faces the prospect of being held in contempt of Parliament for refusing to appear before a committee of MPs.

Mr Miliband is one of those who has called for him to appear before the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee.

When asked whether he would take up Mr Ashley's invitation to view his warehouse, Mr Miliband said: "Mike Ashley's been invited to the select committee.

"Let's get Mike Ashley to come before the House of Commons first .. which former prime ministers have done, the governor of the Bank of England has done, some of the people in the highest positions in the country.

"Let's get Mike Ashley to come to the House of Commons before I start to visit him."

The chairman of the BIS committee, Labour MP Iain Wright, served notice in the Commons that he is prepared to use powers to compel Mr Ashley to appear to answer questions about his company's work practices.

He had previously given Mr Ashley a deadline of 21 March to respond to a letter, warning him the committee will seek the support of the House of Commons in respect of any complaint of contempt.

The UK Parliament website says it is for the House to decide whether a contempt has been committed and, if so, what punishment should be imposed.

The Speaker told Mr Wright on Tuesday the BIS committee had followed the proper procedure and should report the facts of what has happened to the House if Mr Ashley fails to appear on 7 June.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Sports Direct were down just over 10.5% on Tuesday in the wake of Mr Ashley's Sky News interview.

The slump also came after Mr Ashley was quoted telling The Times: "We are in trouble, we are not trading very well. We can't make the same profit we made last year.

"We are supposed to be taking the profits up, they are not supposed to be coming down, and the more the media frenzy feeds on it, the more it affects us."

Mr Ashley has yet to respond to the latest developments (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .