Royal Mail boss touted as Rose’s M&S successor

Allan Leighton, who has spent seven years as chairman of Royal Mail, is being touted as a possible successor to Sir Stuart Rose at Marks & Spencer, according to the Daily Mail newspaper. Allan Leighton, who has spent seven years as chairman of Royal Mail, is being touted as a possible successor to Sir Stuart Rose at Marks & Spencer, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.

Rose, who is set to unveil a sharp downturn in sales at Britain’s biggest clothing chain, is coming under increasing pressure to give up his dual role as chairman and chief executive of the retail group.

Leighton’s name emerged in March – together with that of Archie Norman, with whom he worked at Asda in the Nineties before the supermarket chain was sold to American retail giant WalMart.

They are still smarting at last year’s decision to allow Rose to take the role of executive chairman when Lord Burns left the M&S chair.

And M&S’s operating performance is deteriorating more quickly than its rivals.