Asked about Mr Chappell’s previous bankruptcies, Sir Philip said that should not necessarily count against him.
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He added: “it’s just uncomfortable, that’s all”.
Green has defended his dividend payments, saying: “I think the leverage used on this company was not excessive”.
Sir Philip threatened not to attend after Field said he “would laugh” if Sir Philip offered less than £600 million to settle BHS’ pension scheme deficit.
The freaky interlude was broadcast on Twitter by author and journalist Ian Fraser.
Asking for a break in proceedings in order to regroup, Green said he had gone “many, many miles” to try and keep BHS afloat, including deciding against opting for a pre-pack administration in 2014, which might have had a worse outcome for the pension scheme.
The collapse has left BHS’s pension fund with a deficit of 571 million pounds ($809 million) and tarnished the Topshop-owner Green’s reputation as a leading British businessman. “It didn’t need to be like this and I just want to apologise to all the BHS people who have been involved in this”, he said.
Sir Philip has come in for criticism for taking £400 million in dividends out of the firm during his 15-year ownership, his management of the pension scheme and selling it to former bankrupt Dominic Chappell for £1 in 2015.
He said: “If pension trustees and auditors had spoken to us on day we bought the company, we could have fixed this mess”.
During the near five-hour-long hearing, Sir Philip was also quizzed on his tax affairs and insisted there was no reason he chose offshore destination Monaco to move to following a heart scare in 1998 which he revealed to the committee.
He added, if there had been a mistake in his dealings it was that he had a “too strong emotional tie” to BHS which he presided over for 15 year.
A spokesperson for Sir Philip told the Financial Times: “Sir Philip is waiting for a proper response from Frank Field to his letter and will decide then [whether to attend the inquiry.] He feels the committee is deeply prejudiced and not a proper forum in which to consider the evidence”.
Mr Field had called on Sir Philip to fully cover the £571m deficit in the pension scheme, which covers 20,000 current and former employees.
Sir Philip also said he “one million per cent, would not have done business” with Mr Chappell if his own adviser Goldman Sachs had said not to.
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Green asked Graham: “Are we in the same room?” during questions about the BHS pension scheme. “What happened was beyond disgusting, sad”.
