Lady Patten, a Tory wife and former management consultant, has become known in the City as “queen of the non-executives”. Her non-executive CV extends from Hilton Group — her first — to Brixton, the property group of which she is still chairman, and Somerfield, the food retailer bought by the Co-operative last year.

But it is Lady Patten’s ongoing role as non-executive at Marks & Spencer, where she also chairs the remuneration committee, that will put her in the spotlight this week.

On Wednesday M&S shareholders will vote on the re-election of Lady Patten at what is expected to be a particularly stormy annual meeting. Shareholders plan a number of protest votes.

Last summer the wife of Lord Patten, a Tory peer and former Education Secretary, rubber-stamped the retailer’s decision to cut the target that Sir Stuart Rose needed to reach to earn his £4.5 million bonus under the company’s long-term incentive scheme, much to the chagrin of shareholders.

M&S is heading for a bruising confrontation with its shareholders over Sir Stuart, who is both chairman and chief executive.

The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum has put forward a resolution to be voted on at the meeting that an independent chairman be appointed by 2010 to replace Sir Stuart. The company is prepared for about half of its shareholders to either vote in favour of the resolution or abstain. However, it is believed that M&S will not act on the protest vote, no matter how large it is.

Lady Patten, whose re-election must be approved by shareholders, could feel the brunt of the anger. The remuneration report, accounts and the retailer’s decision to cut its dividend are also targets for shareholder activists.

Lady Patten, who was educated at London’s exclusive St Paul’s Girls’ School, is no stranger to controversy. She was a non-executive director of Bradford & Bingley when the Government was forced to step in and nationalise the tottering mortgage lender last Autumn. She was asked to stay on but was criticised for her role in the bank’s demise.

Lady Patten started her commercial life as a banker at Citibank after graduating from Oxford. She then moved to Wells Fargo before moving into management consulting in 2005 with PA Consulting. She is also on the board of Bain & Co, the consultancy.