M&S chairman slams fat cats

MARKS & Spencer chairman Paul Myners has slammed the enormous pay packets given to some chairmen. He has agreed an annual fee of £200,000 for his retail job.

'I do think some of the rewards that chairman have been given of late are pushing the envelope,' he said. 'The job of chairman is important but considerably less so than chief executive.'

Myners' predecessor Luc Vandevelde got £420,000 for a three-day week. Some other part-timers get £500,000-plus, including BT chairman Sir Christopher Bland, Vodafone's Lord Mac-Laurin and BAE's Dick Olver.

The warning from Myners that some payments 'are too high' is a signal that M&S won't pay over the odds for his successor.

Myners has agreed to stay on until the annual meeting next July at the latest. He says: 'I will see it as a failure if we haven't got anyone in place by the AGM.'

Marks had been looking for a retailer to take the helm, but since Stuart Rose joined as chief executive it decided to cast the net more widely. It has 'already got some quite well known names interested'.

Myners has relinquished his directorship of mmO2, but is still chairman of Guardian Media Group and leading a Treasury review into Mutual Life Insurers.