Wilko boss grilled on whether ‘greed’ responsible for chain’s collapse

The former boss of Wilko, Lisa Wilkinson, was grilled by a House of Commons committee after the retailer’s collapse in August this year.

The granddaughter of the firm’s founder said she was devastated as she offered apologies to the 12,000 people who lost jobs when the 93-year-old chain collapsed.

She was asked bluntly by MP Liam Byrne if greed was responsible for Wilko’s downfall.

“I don’t believe so, no,” Wilkinson replied.

Byrne pushed Wilkinson to apologise directly after noticing that the word ‘sorry’ was absent throughout her response.