London Briefing Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Andrew ParkerWhen Lord MacLaurin announced yesterday that he would like to say one or two things about his colleagues on the podium at Vodafone's annual meeting, a few people wondered whether they were about to get a glimpse of one of the boardroom disputes that have dominated the headlines about the company for months.

Instead, he heaped praise on the "outstanding career" of Julian Horn-Smith, one of Vodafone's founding fathers, who stepped down from the board yesterday; he highlighted the "complex financial issues" through which Paul Hazen had guided the group as chairman of the audit committee; and he repeated his comment in the annual report that Penny Hughes's non-executive contribution "cannot be overstated". More importantly, he made a point of declaring that the boardroom was "totally behind" Arun Sarin, Vodafone's chief executive.

In any other company, a chairman's support for his chief executive would be taken as read. But Lord MacLaurin's praise came at the end of a bruising eight months of financial underperformance and persistent sniping from some of the company's largest shareholders about whether Sarin was up to the job.

That backstory had raised expectations of a stormy meeting as private shareholders got their first chance to challenge the board on the turmoil of the past year, which has seen extensive board reshuffles, an exit from its Japanese business and a major shift in Vodafone's strategic direction.

Lord MacLaurin admitted: "The last six months have not been the easiest, either for me as chairman or for Arun. We all seem to have been somewhat in the firing line."

In the event, however, the criticism was mostly polite. One investor, John Farmer, was applauded for venturing that "one might provocatively say you are a board of charlatans", but Sarin in turn received mild applause for his defence of Vodafone's new strategy.

Prompted by several questions about the reported division onVodafone's board over Sarin's leadership, Lord MacLaurin returned several times to an adamant denial of any disputes.

"I can say categorically, and will say it over and over and over again, there has been no - repeat, no - dissension on this board," he told Kishin Navani, a shareholder who had denounced attempts to "destabilise" the company.

The biggest area of contention beyond the question of the board's unity was over executive pay. Luc Vandevelde, chairman of Vodafone's remuneration committee, caused the meeting to erupt into laughter when he sought to explain the reduced earnings targets that management must hit to qualify for share option awards.

Vodafone's acquisition policy was also questioned, following last year's £28 billion (€41 billion) write-down of assets acquired in deals, including its takeover of Mannesmann of Germany.

Reflecting on Vodafone's "watershed year", his last as chairman, Lord MacLaurin told shareholders: "It is our duty to listen to what you say to us."

Listening to the shareholders yesterday cannot have been enjoyable, but it could have been worse.