New M&S top team Robert Swannell (pictured) and Marc Bolland successfully navigated their first M&S AGM this week, but while the faces on the podium have changed, the audience of private shareholders definitely hasn’t

The questions this year ranged from the lack of suitable socks for playing tennis to cashmere jumpers described as only being suitable to line a cat’s basket. Inevitably there were questions about Swannell’s record at HMV and about Bolland’s remuneration. But after a couple of hours answering questions from that audience, Checkout is sure he would have felt he’d earned every penny.