Sir Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of advertising giant WPP and the longest-serving boss of a FTSE 100 company, has become the sixth chief executive this year to fall victim to the so-called 'shareholder spring', as 60% of the company's shareholders voted against his £2.6m payrise last year.

At the company's annual general meeting today, 59.52% of shareholders voted 'no', according to results published this afternoon at the company's website. Another 0.3% abstained, making for close to 60% opposition in total.