Guardian Media Group (GMG) chief executive Carolyn McCall has resigned from the Tesco board over the legal dispute between the publisher and the supermarket giant.

Yesterday, McCall gave up her non-executive position, acknowledging the conflict of interest over her role since Tesco launched a writ against the GMG for “libel and malicious falsehood”.

She had previously admitted to The Daily Telegraph that she had been in a “difficult position” since The Guardian first ran stories alleging that Tesco used an offshore tax structure to avoid paying£1 billion of tax – a claim rejected by Tesco.

Tesco insisted yesterday that McCall, who had been on its board for three years, was not pushed to leave, with chairman David Reid saying he had accepted her resignation “with regret”. She was paid£62,000 a year for her work at the retailer.

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