BILLIONAIRE Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley revealed yesterday that he has pulled out of a meeting with MPs to discuss poor working conditions at his company because his lawyer cannot attend.

The controversial retail magnate had agreed to questioning over employment practices with the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills select committee, but at the last minute cancelled because his legal representative was “unavailable.”

Mr Ashley was summoned by the committee earlier this year after refusing previous invitations on the grounds that he would not “stand idle” while Sports Direct was “subject to public vilification.”

Though Mr Ashley has an extremely low public profile, public hostility towards him has intensified since the Unite union launched a campaign against his use of zero-hours contracts and denial of workers’ basic health and safety and employment rights.

Business committee chair Iain Wright expressed his disappointment at Mr Ashley’s last-minute decision.

He asked: “Does Mr Ashley, owning and operating a business in a parliamentary democracy, see himself as being beyond such public scrutiny? What has he got to be frightened of?”

The committee has a range of options to put pressure on Mr Ashley if he fails to attend a meeting, which include going to the floor of the Commons with a special report on Mr Ashley that would be debated before he is issued with another summons.

It could also ask Parliament to debate whether Mr Ashley is a fit and proper person to be in charge of a business, or they could find him in contempt of Parliament for failing to attend a meeting.

Mr Wright said: “As democratically elected MPs, we are responding to serious allegations of exploitative employment practices and mistreatment of workers at Sports Direct.”