Sir Martin Sorrell: The Tories' Pet Businessman
Sir Martin Sorrell may have enjoyed a spectacularly successful business career, but his claim that his £1m base salary was "very low" would not win him any prizes for diplomacy.
However, his comment is unlikely to harm his warm relationship with senior political figures - the entrepreneur is a member of David Cameron's business advisory board and has enjoyed the Prime Minister's hospitality at his Chequers country house.
The 66-year-old is also fully behind George Osborne's austerity measures - and has warned against excessive gloom over Britain's economic health.
Sir Martin built an estimated personal fortune of £148m - making him one of the wealthiest 500 people in Britain - from the most unlikely of origins.
In 1985, he took over WPP, a company making teapots and wire baskets for supermarkets, with a value of £1m. Today it is a global advertising and marketing group worth more than £10bn.
Sir Martin was appointed an Ambassador for British Business by the Blair government in 1997 and knighted three years later.
He moved WPP to Jersey for tax reasons three years ago. Today it is based in the Republic of Ireland.
