Former Asda boss Archie Norman is new chair of M&S Marks & Spencer has appointed former Asda boss Archie Norman as chairman. Mr Norman will succeed Robert Swannell, who is retiring after six years in the role, when he takes up the position on September 1. Best known for turning Asda around in the 1990s, he has also served as chairman of ITV, Lazard and Hobbycraft, as well as stints at Kingfisher and Energis. Mr Norman joins M&S as chief executive Steve Rowe continues the fight to improve under-pressure sales in its clothing arm, overseeing a wide-ranging overhaul which will see it shut stores and revamp its product ranges and prices. Archie Norman was previously a Tory MP (Chris Ison/PA Archive/PA Images) He said: “I am looking forward to taking on the role of the chairmanship of Marks & Spencer as the business under Steve Rowe’s leadership faces into the considerable challenges ahead in a rapidly changing retail landscape.” Mr Norman also served as a Tory MP after being elected to the Tunbridge Wells constituency in 1997, and then went on to become chief executive of the Conservative Party under William Hague.

He stood down as an MP in 2005. Clive Black, retail analyst at Shore Capital, said: “Mr Norman is a formidable appointment who, alongside Steve Rowe, who is CEO of M&S, means that there are two very strong characters at the helm of a once great British label that is trying to refind its purpose and relevance to the British shopper to profitable effect. ”hay about a chair cult M&S shares were up 4.5% in morning trading off the back of the news.where to buy wheelchairs in orlandoKingston Upon Thames 9°cmetal folding chairs at kmartAsda has backtracked on a decision to remove food bank collection points from its stores following a fierce public backlash and claims the move could have threatened a quarter of vital supplies to the needy.papasan chair cushions for sale

The supermarket chain quietly started removing permanent, unmanned collection points across Britain this week which prompted boycotts, a petition signed by 88,000 people, and strong opposition from MPs including Labour's Dan Jarvis and Liverpool Mayor, Joe Anderson, who wrote to Asda chief executive Andy Clarke. lazy boy chairs madison wiAnd as opposition mounted against Asda its rival, Tesco, announced it was installing 100 new collection points in its stores.cheap chair hire nottingham Asda, which is owned by US giant Walmart and has 525 UK stores, insisted the move was to give a "fair and consistent" approach to all charities by only allowing charity collections to be made in person, but now says it will reinstate the collection points. Asda have done a U-turn and reinstated food bank collection points in its stores

The Guardian reported that news of Asda's change-of-heart began to circulate on Wednesday. Comments from staff on its internal social network had expressed disquiet and regret over the company's decision, it said. According to the newspaper, a briefing released to staff on Thursday evening said: “We are reinstating all previously existing unmanned collections in store, eg Guide Dogs for the Blind collections, food banks, Marie Curie collection trays. This is about reinviting existing charity partners back into store, not about actively going out and recruiting any new unmanned collections at this stage.” Asda told The Huffington Post UK that the collection point review had allowed it to raise an extra £2 million for good causes. A spokesman told the newspaper that the retailer was "committed" to supporting local communities and it "never intended" to stop food banks or similar local charities collecting in its stores. He said: "We made some changes to our community programme around unmanned collections in the belief that this would benefit the many local good causes who collect in our stores.

"On this occasion our customers and colleagues have told us they understand our intentions, but prefer us to continue to give charities more options to maximise donations. "We are therefore reinstating unmanned collection points." In his letter to Asda Anderson told the company its collection point decision had meant he and his extended family "can no longer consider being customers of yours, and I will publicly urge Liverpool residents and others to do the same”. In response to Asda’s U-turn, Anderson told the Guardian: “It’s disappointing that we had to lobby a company like Asda, who are usually good contributors to good causes. But all credit to them for listening. I’m just glad that they’ve done the right thing and reversed the decision. “I don’t think they understood that this is a way of charities being there at the point that people find it easy to make a contribution. A lot of people aren’t going to take their shopping home and say: ‘I’m going to take these three tins down to the local food bank’.

I lacked any understanding of why Asda made the decision: it was no skin off their nose.” A volunteer collects food from shelves to fill a client's voucher request at the Trussell Trust Food Bank in Liverpool Its initial statements about the policy change Asda said it thought it was essential that “volunteers are on hand to talk to customers and explain where their donations are going”. In response, food banks had said they would have find it difficult to find volunteers to spare. Oldham Foodback tweeted its relief at Asda's decision on Friday, writing: "Thanks Asda staff and customers. Hope to have collection rounds back soon." Bob Ashford, the chair of trustees of the Fair Frome charity in Somerset, told the Guardian he was "absolutely delighted" by Asda's U-turn, saying its decision to scrap collection points "didn't make sense". He said: “We’re a very small charity and we were one of the first to raise this. And now we’ve seen a major national store change its policy.”