John Lewis names retail veteran and former Tesco boss to replace Sharon White as chair

John Lewis and Waitrose staff have been told to brace for a cultural shakeup after the retail business recruited the former UK boss of Tesco to lead its recovery.

- Sarah Butler, Rob Davies

Jason Tarry, a veteran of frontline retail, will replace Sharon White as the chair of the John Lewis Partnership (JLP), in an appointment that one analyst said would revolutionise the company's "social club" culture.

It follows a period of turbulence under White, a high-flying former civil servant who had only recently begun to turn the high street stalwart's fortunes around, after inheriting an overexpanded empire that delivered punishing losses.

JLP lost a cumulative £778m before tax in the three years ending in January 2022, as it wrestled with the impact of Covid-19 and revalued its estate of department stores owing to the shift to online shopping.

Despite a return to profit announced last month, the group has opted not to restore its famous annual bonus - a profit share between employees, who are known as partners because they own the business under a mutual model established in 1929.

In more prosperous times, the retailer would announce the size of the bonus at a heavily publicised event at its flagship Oxford Street store in London, attended by legions of cheering partners.

White appeared to consider ditching the mutual "partnership" structure last year, later denying that any such plans existed.

In 2022, John Lewis was forced to abandon the company's "never knowingly undersold” pledge not to be beaten on price after being unable to undercut online retailers .