Mary Portas accuses ailing John Lewis of losing its soul to raise cash

QUEEN of the High Street Mary Portas has claimed John Lewis has ‘let go of the soul’ under the management of Dame Sharon White.

In a warning letter to Dame Sharon and the firm’s incoming chief executive Nish Kankiwala, Ms Portas said they were ‘custodians of one of the most valued, loved and trusted brands this country has’.

The retail guru, who was an adviser to former Prime Minister David Cameron, said she was speaking out ‘on behalf of the British nation’ after John Lewis revealed it was considering a change to its longstanding employee-owned business model.

In an open letter published on the social media site LinkedIn, Ms Portas said there has been a ‘powerful erasure’ of what John Lewis stands for and warned that ‘failure is not an option’ for the iconic British brand, which also owns Waitrose.

She said: ‘So your task isn’t to turn around just another mediocre retailer under threat of going under. You’re fighting to save part of our collective cultural identity. But what’s worrying me is that you might think your fight is purely financial. It’s not.’

The letter drew an immediate response from Dame Sharon. The John Lewis chairman, who has been at the

‘It’s about what makes up the soul of the brand’

helm since 2020, said it was the biggest privilege of her life to be custodian of the firm’s partnership.

She added that the business has ‘always been open’ to teaming up with new investors and stressed that she ‘will not rest until the partnership is restored to full health. I am here to ensure that it not only survives but thrives for generations.’

She is reportedly seeking up to £2 billion in new investment, but the business’s decades-old staff ownership model means it is unable to raise cash.

The company recently posted an annual loss of £234 million and scrapped its staff bonus as a result. There has also been a warning of job cuts.

But Ms Portas urged Dame Sharon to look beyond the balance sheet. ‘The battle is far more nuanced,’ she said. ‘It’s about what makes up the soul of the brand. The intangibles, the shared beliefs, the beautiful things that can’t be captured in financial projections but earn a little space in people’s hearts.’

The John Lewis Partnership is the UK’s largest employee-owned business. Its retail brands – John Lewis and Waitrose – are owned in trust by its 80,000 partners. It has 34 John Lewis shops and 332 Waitrose shops across the UK.