Rose sells stake in Lane Fox’s Lucky Voice

Last week The First Post reported that Sir Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks and Spencer, had come under fire after it was revealed he'd invested in Lucky Voice, a karaoke business owned by internet queen Martha Lane Fox (pictured). His detractors claimed this was a clear conflict of interest because Lane Fox is a non-executive director of M&S.

Now, in order to quell the brouhaha, Sir Stuart has sold his £100,000 stake in the company. The move is seen as a bid by Rose to calm those shareholders still angry about Marks and Spencer’s sudden decision, without consultation, to bump him up from chief executive to executive chairman of the company. “I didn’t want to look arsey and so intransigent that I wasn’t listening to what people were saying. You have to look whiter than white,” he told the Times.

However, while Sir Stuart has clearly caved in, he insists there would have been no conflict of interest for Lane Fox. "She's not the sort of character who would be swayed by a £100,000 investment in her business," he said. Lane Fox hardly needs the money - she is reported to have made more than £30m from the sale of her internet travel business Lastminute.com.