Parker pulls out of M&S job race

Alan Parker has ruled himself out of the running to take up the chairmanship at Marks & Spencer.

The Whitbread chief executive has said he is not in the race in the search for new figurehead after Sir Stuart Rose steps down as chairman next year, reports theDaily Mail.

He is the second person on the M&S shortlist to rule himself out of the running after Roger Carr, who recently sold Cadbury's to US confectioner Kraft.

Remaining candidates include former Unilever chairman Niall Fitzgerald, Sir Crispin Davies, the departed boss of Reed Elsevier and former Lloyds Banking Group chairman Sir Victor Blank, who is considered an outside chance.