Boss of ‘ungovernable’ Co-op in quit ultimatum

Mr Sutherland, who took over at the food-to-funerals company last May, is said to have written a resignation letter to the board in a “back-me-or-sack-me” move.

Members of the board are trying to persuade him to stay, according to the BBC.

The leaking of details about his bumper pay deal - which he felt was an attempt to destabilise him and prevent him pushing through reforms - was reported to be a factor in his decision last night.

A spokeswoman for the group could not immediately be contacted for confirmation of the report.

It emerged at the weekend that Mr Sutherland was to receive a deal worth £3.6 million despite the Co-op facing a £2 billion loss after the biggest crisis in its history.

The group is facing large-scale job cuts after a disastrous year in which its banking arm needed to be rescued when a £1.5 billion hole was discovered in its balance sheet.

It is now facing an overhaul as well as a series of investigations into what went wrong, as well as continuing questions over the appointment of disgraced bank chairman Paul Flowers despite a lack of knowledge of the sector.

Mr Flowers was later exposed in a newspaper drugs sting.