Dame Sharon White has suffered a rebellion from John Lewis staff who voted against the company's performance last year after it failed to pay them a bonus.

In what is believed to be an unprecedented vote against a John Lewis chairman, staff who sit on its council said they did not have confidence in the progress of the partnership under Dame Sharon over the past year.

The John Lewis Partnership's council, which is made up of 58 members who are elected by its staff, also were asked to vote on whether they could support her future strategy, and voted in favour. 

Chris Earnshaw, president of the council, said: "The council, chairman and board will continue to work together to ensure the long-term success of the partnership and our employee-owned model".

The vote is not binding. However, it has dealt a blow to Dame Sharon's efforts to revive the partnership, which also owns John Lewis department stores as well as Waitrose shops. John Lewis has been battling inflation which it says has "hit like a hurricane".

It has been racing to strip out an extra £600m, after losses hit more than £230m in its latest financial year.

Dame Sharon is considering bringing in an outside investor at the business, which at present is fully owned by its staff.