Fiery finale on cards in easyJet soap opera The 10 members of easyJet's board, who had assembled in the company's aptly named "orange tree" cafeteria, were stony-faced as they took their seats. EasyJet chairman Sir Michael Rake was as sombre as if he were declaring war as he took the opportunity to make the first strike. "We would not normally comment upon such disagreements in public," he insisted. But that didn't hold him back as he fired a volley of adjectives condemning Sir Stelios' "inaccurate," "misleading," "inappropriate" and "defamatory" assertions. With easyJet chief executive Carolyn McCall to his left he sounded like a protective father as he reserved particular venom for the "increasingly personalised" nature of the attacks. Shackleton, his red tie clashing against the orange surroundings, was unmoved, calmly reading out several questions regarding the relationship between Standard Life Investments (SLI), one of the three largest shareholders in easyJet, and the airline's aircraft supplier, Airbus. Sir Michael, taking copious sips of water as he tried to keep his cool, responded with terse but polite "yeses." But it was McCall who was showing the most obvious signs of strain. The normally relaxed former media boss listened to Shackleton's monologue with her head on her hand, shaking her head and on one occasion rolling her eyes. When the statuesque Jonathan Cobb, governance and stewardship director at SLI, stood up next, silence fell upon the room as the 100 or so gathered braced themselves for some real bruising. But Cobb, who rarely emerges from the shadows unless provoked, refused to get dragged down into the mud, using measured language to express SLI's support for the board. By the time the fashionably attired Christian Paaskensen of Sanderson Asset Management took the spotlight to declare his backing for management, the atmosphere had faded and it was clear that this particular episode in the Sir Stelios-easyJet soap opera would be more Emmerdale than EastEnders. But with threats of legal action already flying from both sides, there's still the possibility of an El Dorado-style finale.