A sportswear baron who employs most workers on zero-hours contracts is one of five Britons worth more combined than the poorest 20 per cent, Oxfam revealed yesterday.

Sports Direct boss and Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley ranks fifth in Britain's rich list with a reported wealth of £3.3 billion.

He was named by Oxfam as one of the elite raking in £28bn a year - a sum which the poorest 12.6 million people would have to club together their poverty pay and benefits to match.