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Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings received a pay raise of at least £ 40,000 before leaving 10 Downing Street, government documents have revealed.
In a recently released annual report on the pay of government special advisers, it is stated Mr. Cummings between £ 140,000 and £ 144,999 a year was paid.
This placed him among the top earners at No. 10 before his departure last month, which followed a bitter power struggle among the prime minister’s top staff.
Cummings and Lee Cain left No. 10 last month after a bitter power struggle
And it also showed Cummings received a pay raise in the past 12 months, with last year’s report on Special Adviser pay revealed that he previously had a salary of between £ 95,000 and £ 99,999.
Cummings’ pay raise came after he helped Mr johnson ensure a resounding victory in the general elections last December.
However, the former Vote Leave boss’s position at No.10 soon became less secure after he was accused of violating coronavirus rules by traveling from London to the North East at the height of England’s first lockdown.
Mr Cummings explained an additional trip to Barnard Castle saying that he needed to test his eyesight before driving back to London.
The prime minister gave his full support to Cummings at the time, but, in November, Johnson’s senior aide dropped out of No. 10 after arguments among the top Downing Street political candidates.
Cummings’ departure came shortly after that of his close ally Lee Cain, the prime minister’s former communications director.
In his resignation statement, Cain revealed that he had been offered the 10th chief of staff position, an appointment said to have been opposed by Johnson’s fiancée, Carrie Symonds, and his new press secretary, Allegra Stratton.
The Prime Minister’s new press secretary, Allegra Stratton
In a footnote to this year’s annual report on the compensation of special advisers, Cain and Cummings were said to be “in the process of leaving their government jobs,” though neither has been seen at No. 10 since last month.
Mr Cain also had a salary between £ 140,000 and £ 144,999, which is the same level as the Prime Minister’s Acting Chief of Staff, Sir Edward Lister, and the man who will take over as Chief of Staff from 1 January, Dan Rosenfield.
Stratton, a former journalist, is paid between £ 125,000 and £ 129,999, according to the annual report.
This is the same as the UK’s lead negotiator for Brexit trade negotiations, Lord Frost.
Labor Deputy Director Angela Rayner said: “Boris Johnson defended Dominic Cummings when he violated lockdown rules and then awarded him a £ 50,000 raise.”
“However, it is freezing the salary of key workers and refusing to give our care workers a wage increase to the living wage.
“Cummings’ bonus is an insult to key workers who are being denied the pay raise they deserve.
“It’s another example of how under this government it is one rule for the Conservative Party and its friends and another for the rest of us.
