Pictured: The bug MPs claim was planted by a woman delivering sandwiches to their private meeting during surprise visit to Mike Ashley's Sports Direct warehouse to investigate 'Victorian' working conditions

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A group of MPs claim to have found a recording device during private discussions after an unannounced visit to Sports Direct's controversial warehouse in Derbyshire.

Members of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee travelled to Shirebrook for an on-the-spot inspection on Monday afternoon and were taken on a three-hour tour of the premises.

After the visit, the six MPs headed for a private room to discuss their impressions when they said a recording device was found, with one MP posting pictures on Twitter.

Anna Turley, MP for Redcar, revealed the camera was planted by a woman dropping off coronation chicken sandwiches.

She added: 'At the end of the meeting, we sat down to have a private conversation in a room by ourselves.

A photo from Anna Turley's Twitter page allegedly showing how the recording device was found under a stool

Anna Turley, MP for Redcar, tweeted this photo of the sandwiches as well as the alleged recording device

'A lady came in with some sandwiches, which was very kind. I saw her take too long to do it, she put it down and I saw her put a recording device on the floor.

'She left the room and I went over to pick up the device and there it was: a camera and a recording device for the conversation that we were having privately.

'I'm very disappointed.'

Ms Turley continued: 'I think as a select committee, we'll get together and talk about what we did genuinely see today and there were some positive things - we think there was some effort in improvement and taking on board what the committee had said.

'But we're just very disappointed. How can we not believe that there is something to hide when everything has been so suspicious and not done with the spirit of openness?'

In trouble: MPs have turned up unannounced at Mike Ashley's Sports Direct warehouse where staff compared it to a Victorian workhouse or a Soviet gulag

Clash: Mike Ashley said that MPs would apologise to him if they saw his warehouse - so they attended a visit today

MP Anna Turley said: 'How can we not believe that there is something to hide when everything has been so suspicious and not done with the spirit of openness?'

Iain Wright, chair of the committee, said: 'I'm really disappointed in the nature and spirit in which Sports Direct have conducted this visit.

'I'm not suggesting that they were going to welcome us with open arms - we are a select committee that has been critical of working practices turning up unannounced.

'The fact that the sandwich woman who came into the room when the select committee was having a private conversation about what we had discovered... to have a recording device... I mean that's absolutely disgraceful.

'That's not the manner in which I want to conduct relations with Sports Direct. We have been critical of Mike Ashley and his company, but we want to work with him, the trade unions, with workers and others to ensure that proper, appropriate and dignified working practices are put in place.

'Why does he have that lack of trust when we have offered to work with him in an open and constructive manner?'

Mr Wright spoke to Sports Direct chief Mike Ashley on the phone after the MPs left the warehouse.

The MP said: 'I don't think it was a particularly pleasant conversation for either of us.'

Blunder: Mr Ashley looked embarrassed as he took a giant wad of at least £1,000 in £50 notes from his pocket as he entered the warehouse where his staff were paid below the minimum wage

He added: 'I would have liked Mike Ashley to have been here.

'We were always going to turn up unannounced. It's what he said we could do when he came before us in June and it's what we've done now.

'I want to work with Mike Ashley in a constructive manner. I don't think he wants to work with us at all any more.

'I wanted this visit to be part of a journey of progress and improvement so that we could work together to say, "Yep, you've really done some good stuff, well done, and this is what needs to be happening".

'But in terms of the way it's been handled: the diversionary tactics, the secret recordings of private select committee deliberations, that is really disgusting and something I really can't agree with.' 

Mr Wright had once described working practices at Sports Direct to being 'closer to that of a Victorian workhouse than that of a modern, reputable high street retailer'.

The MPs taking part in the inspection include select committee chairman Iain Wright, along with Peter Kyle, Michelle Thomson, Anna Turley, Amanda Solloway and Craig Tracey. 

Sports Direct International founder Mike Ashley and his wife Linda arrive to attend a select comitee hearing at Portcullis house on June

Mr Ashley had given a tour of the warehouse in September months after it was revealed Sports Direct staff had not been paid the minimum wage.

During the AGM before it he lost his temper when a union leader confronted him about working conditions.

His charm offensive faltered further after he took a giant wad of at least £1,000 in £50 notes from his pocket as he entered the warehouse where his staff were paid below the minimum wage.

But the billionaire got angry when grilled about Sports Direct's 'Victorian' working practices at its warehouse in Shirebrook.

Amid heated exchanges at the AGM, Mr Ashley clashed with members of Unite, including assistant general secretary Steve Turner, blaming the union for business's problems.

He said: 'It's probably your fault that we're in this mess' and claimed that he had been unable to speak to Unite about the warehouse problems.

During the angry exchange he added: 'I made a commitment to make a difference, I am trying, don't pull me down.

'I accept I have made some errors and I accept I can learn something. Please don't do the whole showboating thing, it will make me turn away and it's the people who work in Sports Direct who suffer.'

Mr Turner had enraged the Newcastle United owner after suggesting that Mr Ashley should be offering more guaranteed hours to staff. 

However, the tycoon added that he 'clearly could have done a better job' at the company.

During a tour of the company's Shirebrook warehouse, Mr Ashley said he did not 'knowingly' or 'deliberately' run the operation badly, adding that the firm's rapid growth and the sheer scale of the business had made it difficult to get it right.

The night before Mr Ashley also scrapped the company's ruthless 'six strikes and you're out policy' with staff penalised for taking a short break to drink water, going to the toilet or chatting to colleagues.

He has also promised to help the thousands of warehouse workers languishing on controversial 'zero hours' contracts and will have an employee representative on the board.