M&S chief's £1m golden hello

Stuart Rose, the new boss of Marks & Spencer, has been lured to the embattled high street giant with a "golden hello" of ?1.25 million, together with an annual salary of £850,000.

On top of that, he could receive as much as four times his salary in share options, although details have yet to be finalised.

Mr Rose made as much as £25 million when he sold Arcadia, his Top Shop, Burton and Miss Selfridge business just over a year ago. He will be spearheading the M&S defence against a £10 billion bid from Bhs billionaire

Philip Green after the dramatic ousting of M&S chief executive Roger Holmes last night.

The City is now preparing for what looks set to be one of the fiercest takeover battles in years.

M&S's hopes of fighting off the approach from Monaco-based Mr Green looked slim before Mr Rose was parachuted in yesterday. Now, the City is agreed, he will have a battle on his hands.

The two men know each other well - Mr Rose was head of Arcadia when Mr Green bought the business just over a year ago.

Although they are not close friends, Mr Rose was a guest at Mr Green's ? 5 million toga party to celebrate his 50th birthday.

Mr Green, who is expected to table his near-?10billion bid sometime this week, took the news of Mr Rose's appointment in his stride. He joked: "I'm sending him (Rose) my headhunter's bill. I think I got him the job."

Mr Holmes is in line for a pay-off of £600,000 while chairman Luc Vendevelde is set to receive around £450,000.

Vittorio Radice, the flamboyant former Selfridges boss, could be the next casualty in the battle for control of M&S. His new venture,

the costly homewares shop, Lifestore, has not been a success and he is also in charge of the ailing clothing operations.

"Rose will want to be running all that himself, I can't see Radice lasting long," said one retail analyst. However, Mr Rose insisted today that he had "no preconceived ideas" and would be talking to Mr Radice in the next few days.

Shares in M&S jumped 6.25p to

365.75p today. Any bid would have to put the share price above ?4 to have a chance of success, analysts said.

Mr Rose, who started his retailing career as an M&S management trainee in 1972, said he wanted to restore its reputation for "good quality-good value, good service and innovation". He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that while M&S had "not been on the high ground" for a few years, it was "a fundamentally very sound business".

Describing Mr Green as "a great guy and a very good retailer", he said no offer had been made yet. But Mr Rose added: "I believe we can very quickly execute some things and bring the business back to the high ground."