By Mark Duell and Martin Robinson for MailOnline and Josh White For The Daily Mail

‘How was your holiday? Nice tan!’: Boss of Environment Agency ridiculed on Twitter as he FINALLY visits flood victims and faces quiz by MPs over his Barbados holiday
Sir Philip Dilley arrived at Gatwick [29 December 2015] after fortnight in Barbados
Went to Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire
But Twitter users responded to EA tweets by joking that he had ‘nice tan’
Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs Committee will question him

The under-fire Environment Agency boss visited flood victims in Yorkshire yesterday after refusing to apologise for sunning himself in Barbados as Britain battled its worst floods for seven decades.

Sir Philip Dilley, 60, who earns £100,000 a year for a three-day week, visited Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire in the afternoon after returning from the Caribbean.

The EA tweeted photos of chairman Sir Philip visiting the areas and an incident room, but received unimpressed responses from Twitter users – such as ‘nice tan’ and ‘how was your holiday?’

One said Sir Philip is ‘frightened to go amongst the real people – take his title off him’ while another ‏added: ‘How was your holiday? Get over there, we coped fine while you were gone.’

It was also revealed he will be hauled before MPs to be quizzed on his holiday. The Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs Committee will question him and two senior EA officials on Wednesday.

Earlier yesterday, Sir Philip said he enjoyed his Caribbean Christmas break and told the Mail he had returned home ‘at the appropriate time’, adding that the EA had ‘handled this extremely well’.

The tanned quango chairman has spent the past fortnight with his wife June at his luxurious gated holiday home, with swimming pool and palm tree-filled grounds, 4,000 miles away from the floods.

Sir Philip has been ridiculed for going on holiday as the crisis gripped swathes of the UK despite previously telling MPs he would work ‘seven days a week’ if there was severe flooding.

The EA has been accused of misleading the public by claiming their London-based chairman was ‘at home with his family’ when in fact he was in Barbados.

Yesterday morning he was met by two aides who maintained that Sir Philip’s Barbados break was not a holiday and confirmed he would be heading to Yorkshire to visit flooded communities.

There has been uproar over Sir Philip’s family holiday and absence in public at a time where there are nine ‘severe’ flood warnings for northern England and Wales – meaning potential loss of life.

Everybody can’t be everywhere at the same time. I think we’ve been very effective and efficient in what we’ve been doing 

Sir Philip Dilley, Environment Agency chairman

Asked about his trip, a relaxed and tanned Sir Philip said with a chuckle: ‘It was fine actually.’ And asked if he regretted not coming back earlier, he said: ‘Well, I have come back now.

‘Everybody can’t be everywhere at the same time. I think we’ve been very effective and efficient in what we’ve been doing.

‘Actually today I am going straight up to the North to see some of what is going on there, to see some of the good work being done and also to see the communities that have been affected.’

Asked about criticising his predecessor for not visiting the Somerset floods more hastily, he replied: ‘I don’t think I did criticise him actually. What I said is in hindsight it would have been easier if he had come back earlier.

‘In this particular case, I think we have been handling the work extremely well. There have obviously been some things that we can learn lessons from… I have kept in touch throughout the whole process and it’s the appropriate time to come.’

It is a terrible thing to be flooded. It’s almost impossible to imagine if you haven’t actually been flooded and our hearts go out to all of them, not least because it was over the Christmas period

Sir Philip Dilley 

Asked if he had a message for the flood victims, he said: ‘Well of course, it is a terrible thing to be flooded. It’s almost impossible to imagine if you haven’t actually been flooded and our hearts go out to all of them, not least because it was over the Christmas period.

‘So of course, that’s a terrible thing. Of course, there may be more to come. That’s another reason I am here today.’

Asked if he would like to apologise for not coming back earlier or for the failure of flood defence measures, he said: ‘As I say, I’m up there today. I would be very happy to talk with you or some of your colleagues once I’m on the ground and there will be more to say then, I’m sure.’

Asked if he believed his officials had misled the Press by stating he was ‘at home’ rather than in Barbados, he replied: ‘I honestly don’t know what our officials said directly. You are aware that I am lucky enough to have two homes so I travel between the two.’

Last night the EA said he had visited West Yorkshire, though officials had refused to release details of his trip beforehand. A spokesman said they had wanted him to carry out his visit ‘without being under scrutiny’.

Sir Philip has also been accused of failing to live up to his commitments after he once promised to work ‘six or seven days a week’ if there was a repeat of the winter deluges of recent years.

On Tuesday, the millionaire former business adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his three-week break to return to the UK following criticism of his holiday plans.

As it emerged that he was in Barbados the EA was accused of misleading the public after claiming he was ‘at home with his family’ – but in fact was in Barbados.

Giving evidence to MPs in July 2014 before he took up the coveted EA post, Sir Philip told the Commons environment committee that crises would ‘no doubt come’.

‘I can well see if there is a crisis it’s six days a week or even seven days a week,’ he said.

He vowed to be the ‘public face’ if there was a repeat of the floods of 2012-13 or 2013-14, adding that he would ‘show great interest, care, visit, turn up in wellingtons and so on very early on… [to] take some of the heat out of it’.

On Tuesday night, politicians on the committee said they expected Sir Philip to be called to give evidence about his failure to live up to his commitments.

Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick told the Daily Mail: ‘Sadly in the past ten days while the North has been deluged he has not been available and he will have to answer questions on the commitments he gave and his performance.’

Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger, who clashed with the EA during previous floods in his Somerset constituency, said the quango’s senior officials still did not seem to understand their responsibilities.

‘FOREIGN AID IS MAD WHEN I COMMUTE IN A DINGHY,’ SAYS FURIOUS YORK WINE BAR OWNER

He said: ‘To disappear to Barbados at a time like this is an idiotic thing to do. He has got to learn that if you take the Queen’s shilling to do a job you cannot just shirk off when there is trouble on your watch. It is obvious that he cannot do the job from Barbados – he should be here, now.’

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said: ‘It seems that this organisation, bereft of its formal leadership, is being led from the ground up.’

In an interview shortly after he took up the role, Sir Philip made a similar vow to ensure he would be a visible figurehead by promptly visiting the scene of any serious floods that occur under his watch.

This is because it is crucial for public perception for a figurehead to be visible in crises, he said.  

‘I chair the board of the agency and I agree there is a sort of figurehead position that is crucial for perception,’ he told The Independent last December – only three months after he started the job.

He added that it is ‘good to be seen’ and ‘good for public perception to show visible leadership’. 

In his interview with the newspaper, Sir Philip described how he had learned from his predecessor, Lord Smith, who came under fire for failing to visit Somerset Levels for six weeks after it suffered severe flooding in early 2014.

‘He did go down to Somerset. Could he have gone earlier? In hindsight, of course he could have gone earlier,’ he said, declaring he ‘probably’ would have visited the site earlier than Lord Smith did.

But he added that the peer going to the scene of the flooding ‘in his wellingtons’ ‘wouldn’t have made any real difference to what happened to the people that suffered’ in the flooding.

Until yesterday. Sir Philip – the former boss of multinational engineering firm Arup Group – had not appeared in public at the scenes of the flooding in northern England since December 14 in Cumbria.

Since he left for Barbados a fortnight ago, there have been more catastrophic floods across northern England, especially in Yorkshire, which has seen its worst flooding in seven decades.

In York, large parts of the city were under water at the start of the week.

Sir Philip, who is also the chairman of the Council of Imperial College London, was not at his £1.5million Central London flat on Tuesday.

A source told MailOnline that he was in Barbados at the holiday home he built there. But they said he would be back in Britain by yesterday.

Sir Philip built the gated property with his second wife June Delores Mukhtar-Dilley, who is believed to be from the island. The father-of-three visits Barbados so frequently he once said he felt guilty about the ‘carbon footprint’ left by his flights while the villa was under construction.

When he is not staying at the villa, called Amitola, it is let out for £7,000 a month, according to estate agents.

Bathed in year-round Caribbean sunshine, the retreat is part of a property empire thought to be worth at least £4million. The EA boss also owns two luxury flats within the same impressive mansion block in central London. He is thought to live in one while using the other as his home office.

Sir Philip and his wife, 58, snapped up a two-bed flat in the block 15 years ago for £350,000.

It is now worth around £1million. Four years ago they saw a larger flat in the building for sale for £860,000 and bought it. It is now believed to be worth up to £1.5million.

The couple also have a peaceful country residence close to a village in East Sussex. 

Over the summer Sir Philip won planning permission for internal alterations to the home, a three-bedroom flat in a Grade I listed mansion, although the planning officer lamented that it might be difficult to squeeze in a full en-suite bathroom for the third bedroom.

It’s good to be seen and it’s good for public perception to show visible leadership

Sir Philip, December 2014 interview

An EA spokesman said of Sir Philip’s latest holiday: ‘Sir Philip Dilley has been at home with his family over Christmas.’

The spokesman confirmed that the ‘home’ is in Barbados – close to Sir Philip’s Barbadian wife June’s family – but his property in London is his primary residence.

After his previous public appearance on December 14, Sir Philip sent deputy chairman, Emma Howard Boyd, to escort the Prince of Wales to visit the floods on December 21.

Tory MP Nigel Adams, whose Selby and Ainsty seat in North Yorkshire is at the heart of Britain’s flood disaster, told The Sun: ‘Hundreds of my constituents are struggling with the flooding, after Christmas mistakes I would think that Mr Dilley would want to be back as quickly as possible.’  

The EA has refused to answer detailed questions about his whereabouts for several days.

On Tuesday a spokesman said they were expecting Sir Philip back in the UK in the next 24 hours, saying: ‘One of the first things he’s doing is going to see areas affected by the severe flooding in the North.’

The spokesman added: ‘Sir Philip has visited the North of England recently: he was in Cumbria on 14 December in the aftermath of the floods there.

‘He has kept in touch with the EA on its response to the current flooding, and has been available to participate in any necessary discussions.’ 

Sir Philip, a graduate of Imperial College, London, joined global engineering and architecture firm Arup after leaving university. 

To disappear to Barbados at a time like this is an idiotic thing to do… if you take the Queen’s shilling to do a job you cannot just shirk off when there is trouble on your watch

Ian Liddell-Grainger, Conservative MP

He rose through the ranks and for five years from 2009 was its executive chairman. 

From 2011 to 2013 he was a member of David Cameron’s Advisory Group of business leaders, giving ‘regular, high level advice to the prime minister on critical business and economic issues facing the country’, according to his CV.

He secured the EA chairmanship the following year.

He was awarded a knighthood in the 2014 Birthday Honours for his services to engineering.

Four years ago, Mr Dilley, who has three sons with his wife June, told an interviewer: ‘In my younger days I believed I could do anything, anywhere. That was a mistake.’

He added that the best advice he ever received was: ‘Not to worry about things you can’t do anything about.’

He also declared that the historical or fictional character he most identified with was: ‘Apollo God of logic.’ Asked if he deserved his hefty pay packet at Arup, Sir Philip declared: ‘Absolutely.’

Spending billions on foreign aid while neglecting the UK’s flood defences is ‘mad’, according to the owner of a deluged wine bar.

Flood waters were still half way up the windows of Plonkers Wine Bar in York two days after the city was swamped when heavy rainfall saw the Foss and Ouse rivers burst their banks. 

Manager Malcolm Goodwin, 63, said: ‘Foreign aid is mad, when I commute in a dinghy.

‘There are more millionaires in India and we’re sending them aid.

‘It’s time we realised we’re not the Great Britain we used to be.’

Britain is to spend £5.8billion from its foreign aid budget over five years helping other countries combat flooding and reducing global warming.

Mr Goodwin added: ‘Most of Holland is below sea level. Are they flooded? No. They spent the money and sorted it out.’

QUANGO ACCUSED OF COVERING-UP CHAIRMAN’S BARBADOS BREAK

The Environment Agency has been accused of misleading the public by claiming their London-based chairman was ‘at home with his family’ over Christmas when in fact he was in Barbados.
The quango repeatedly refused to say where Sir Philip Dilley (right, yesterday) was after he was last seen in public on December 14 – and was accused of ‘cheap’ tactics in a cover-up that has ‘undermined its own credibility’.
On Monday, an official statement indicated that Sir Philip was ‘at home with his family’, apparently in the UK, and claimed he was ‘available to participate in any necessary discussions.’
The agency put out another statement on Tuesday which said Sir Philip ‘has been at home with his family over Christmas’ – but again omitted that he had been in the Caribbean.
A spokesman only confirmed that it was Barbados after it was revealed by the press.
Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick, a member of the parliamentary committee that has oversight of the Environment Agency, said: ‘There is an obligation to be honest and transparent and straightforward. If he is on holiday in Barbados, why not just say that?
‘It’s cheap to be muddying the waters rather than telling the truth and it tends to undermine the credibility of the organisation.’
Despite the criticism this morning Sir Philip was met at Gatwick by two aides who maintained that his Barbados break was not a holiday.
Asked if he believed his officials had misled the press by stating he was ‘at home’ rather than in Barbados, Sir Philip said: ‘I honestly don’t know what our officials said directly. You are aware that I am lucky enough to have two homes so I travel between the two.’

IMAGES:

Leaving his London flat: Sir Philip was ridiculed for going on holiday as the crisis gripped swathes of the UK despite previously telling MPs he would work ‘seven days a week’ if there was severe flooding

Meeting a soldier: Sir Philip Dilley (right), who earns £100,000 a year for a three-day week, visited Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire yesterday afternoon after returning from the Caribbean

Sprawling: Sir Philip Dilley, the EA chairman, has spent the past fortnight at his mansion (above) in Barbados

Under water: Flooding around Tewkesbury Abbey in Gloucestershire as the UK braces for another storm tonight

 

For more on this story and video plus more images go to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3379401/How-holiday-Nice-tan-Boss-Environment-Agency-ridiculed-Twitter-FINALLY-visits-flood-victims-returning-Barbados-holiday.html#ixzz3wE98Au4Y