THE Federal Government faces an embarrassing backlash in November if Telstra's major shareholders show their disappointment at the Prime Minister's nomination of Geoff Cousins for a board seat. The attempt to vote John Howard's former adviser on to the board will force the sale of its $8 billion stake in Telstra into the second-half of November, at the earliest, making the window for the T3 offering tighter. This is because the Government will lose its entitlement to vote if it sells down its stake more than two days before Telstra's annual meeting on November 14.