Donald Brydon, the affable City veteran who chairs Taylor Nelson Sofres, is a hard man to rile. But Sir Martin Sorrell appears to have got under his skin. Mr Brydon claims that Sir Martin's prolonged campaign of “innuendo and gossip” against the proposed merger of TNS and the rival market research outfit GfK is designed to undermine a deal that threatens WPP. This is an outrageous slur against one of Britain's leading business figures. And it is undoubtedly true.

Sir Martin would be delighted to scupper a deal that would create a stronger competitor for Kantar, WPP's own market research arm. And compared with Sir Martin, Machiavelli was a straight shooter.

But it would be wrong to assume that he is not serious about his bid. Sir Martin is very keen to reduce WPP's reliance on the advertising cycle and combining Kantar with TNS would create a much stronger No2 in the market behind Nielsen.

It would also be wrong to claim, as Mr Brydon does, that WPP's indicative offer does not provide a premium for control. The offer of 260p a share appears to be comfortably above the level at which TNS shares would otherwise be trading, even factoring in the value of the cost savings promised from the proposed nil-premium merger with GfK. Moreover, the premium will have widened in recent days as the media sector has careered down hill.

Sir Martin may have to add a bit more to his offer. But the odds are shortening that he will get what he wants. He usually does.

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