More than one in five Marks & Spencer shareholders refused today to back the controversial dual role of boss Sir Stuart Rose.

More than one in five Marks & Spencer shareholders refused today to back the controversial dual role of boss Sir Stuart Rose.

Around 22% of investors either abstained or voted against his reappointment as executive chairman, which combines the role of chairman and chief executive.

The post has been criticised by many of M&S's major institutional shareholders as being in breach of corporate governance best practice.

The vote - taken at the company's annual general meeting in London - comes in the wake of a shock profits warning last week, which saw M&S's shares slump by a third in value.

Sir Stuart blamed the company's woes on a general economic slowdown, saying consumers were feeling the squeeze from a higher cost of living.

He was backed in his executive chairman role by independent deputy chairman Sir David Michels, who said Sir Stuart had the right set of skills to take M&S forward.

"In these somewhat uncertain economic times, continuity becomes more important," he said.

Sir David added: "The decision to retain Sir Stuart was taken after careful deliberation. There has been much comment and some criticism over the combined role of chief executive and chairman.

"While we are sensitive to this criticism, myself and the board are entirely and unanimously convinced that this route is the right one for your company."

But some shareholders were not so impressed, including Peter Hampshire, 73, from Richmond, south west London.

He said his main concern was the dual role: "It is a question of balance - you need two strong people at the top. It's best practice to split the roles."

M&S said investors holding 51.6% of shares voted on the reappointment of Sir Stuart - which equates to approximately 815 million shares. Of those, 140.1 million were withheld and of the remainder nearly 6% - around 40 million shares - voted against.

This means that around 180 million failed to back the reappointment - approximately 22% of those shareholders who voted.

On a similar basis, around 16% failed to back the company's remuneration report.

Sir Stuart, 59, has pledged to remain with the retailer until 2011.

He told shareholders: "Despite reports that you may have read in the papers, the leadership team is strong.

"I fully expect to be held to account for the actions I take.

"My non-executive team is a strong, independent and challenging team. Rest assured, they keep us on our toes."

Among the non-executive directors is lastminute.com co-founder Martha Lane Fox.

M&S's grim trading update last week, which came a week earlier than expected, showed an overall 5.3% fall in UK like-for-like sales in the quarter to June 28 - the worst quarter's trading for three years.

This sent shares tumbling, wiping almost £1.7 billion off the company's stock market value.

The stock rallied yesterday amid speculation in the City about possible takeover interest.

Sir Stuart said today that, in economic terms, M&S was a bit like "an early warning system or the smoke alarm in your kitchen".

"It listens to its customers and they are saying their purses are pressed. They are saying the cost of living is going up faster than for a long time. They are saying they are feeling the squeeze and it will take longer to feed through than people think."

Shareholder Mike Worrell, from Horsham, West Sussex, said he was very disappointed with M&S's stuttering share price.

He gave Mr Stuart six out of 10 for his performance, adding: "Do they maintain their high-quality, more expensive role that they have for years or do they go lower market to compete with the likes of Tesco and Primark? This is a real dilemma for them."

Sir Stuart drew rounds of applause when he pledged to maintain M&S's premium food position.

But he did refer to changing customer buying habits and said the company's pricing promotion and stock availability would be reviewed.

He also vowed to continue charging for plastic bags, saying it was the right thing to do to help the environment.

Sir Stuart said: "Let me assure you, if this is not the right thing to do, we will review it but I believe we are heading in the right direction."