M&S recruits two directors after Neville Richardson's departure

Marks & Spencer Bank has replenished its board after the departure of the former Co-op Bank boss Neville Richardson.

The company said Dame Denise Holt, a former British ambassador to Spain, and the former Deloitte partner Peter Shawyer would be joining as non-executive directors.

It follows the resignation of Mr Richardson on Tuesday. He had been under political pressure to quit since the discovery of a £1.5bn black hole in the Co-op's finances. Earlier this week, Brooks Newmark, a member of the Treasury Select Committee, said he would be raising the matter with the City regulator.

Mr Richardson, who also quit as a director of Countrywide, said: "After the ill-informed and inaccurate commentary in the media concerning myself and my departure from the Co-op Bank and the acquisition of Britannia by the Co-op Group, this was the right thing to do.

"I will co-operate fully with any official inquiry there may be into the transaction or the circumstances of my departure from the Co-op Bank."