Sports Direct's Mike Ashley agrees to face MPs

Mike Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct, will answer questions in Britain's parliament about practices at the sports goods retailer on Tuesday, his spokesman said, signalling an end to a standoff between the billionaire and MPs.

The lower house of parliament's Business, Innovation and Skills Committee summoned Ashley to attend, but the retail boss said he would only come if MPs first visited Sports Direct's warehouse in Shirebrook, central England, to see conditions for themselves.

The committee said it would not accept Ashley placing conditions on his attendance.

Ashley said later last week he would not attend the hearing because his lawyer, Richard Gordon, was unavailable.

"Mike (Ashley) has decided to attend the select committee on June 7," his spokesman Keith Bishop told BBC television.

"He wants to avoid a media circus and he's got nothing to hide. He really is looking forward to attending, to tell the actual MPs that are there how great Sports Direct is and how great the workforce is."

The retailer has been criticised for the treatment of warehouse workers at Shirebrook, though it has rejected the charge that it effectively pays some staff below the national minimum wage.