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Sir Philip Green has 'threatened to sue' Frank Field for defamation, the Labour MP said this evening.

Lawyers acting for Sir Philip demanded an "immediate apology" from Mr Field today, for comments he made about his running of BHS.

Mr Field is chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, which today issued a damning report into the collapse of the firm.

And today, Mr Field compared him unfavourably with notorious tycoon Robert Maxwell , demanding the ex-BHS boss write a cheque for at least £571million to cover the collapsed retailer's pensions obligations.

Field said Sir Philip "behaved like Napoleon" when he "plundered" and "raked off" money from the high street giant, which now has a pensions black hole.

(Image: PA)

And he warned Prime Minister Theresa May should take action saying "much more" was needed than stripping Sir Philip of his knighthood.

Tonight, Mr Field told the BBC the threat was "displacement therapy."

He said: "Instead of writing a big cheque he is firing off lawyers letters. He needs to stop messing around and write a big cheque".

He told Sky News: "I received a letter from Schillings, the lawyers, this afternoon, threatening to sue me for what I've actually been saying about the acquisition of funds from BHS and from other companies.

"So I don't know how that will run, but it adds to the gaiety of life, doesn't it?"

The letter gives Mr Field 24 hours to apologise for the "defamatory statements" before further action is taken.

It says: "Clearly an allegation that our client is a thief is likely to cause him serious harm."

Sir Philip has insisted he is "trying to find a solution" for the collapsed firm's pension fund and apologised to staff caught up in the "horrid story".

He acknowledged that selling the high street chain to Dominic Chappell's Retail Acquisitions firm was "a very bad choice" and he felt "badly let down".

But he lashed out at the parliamentary committees which produced a damning report into the collapse of the firm, insisting that it was a "predetermined and inaccurate output of a biased and unfair process".

Downing Street said the report produced by the MPs was "clearly concerning" and Prime Minister Theresa May would "lean lessons for the future" from the committees' inquiry.