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| Mandy earns more than Gordon!!! |
BORN-AGAIN Cabinet Minister Peter Mandelson is pocketing the biggest salary in government—even more than PM Gordon Brown.
The News of the World can reveal Lord Mandy is on a staggering £202,778 this year—almost £13,000 more than the Premier’s £189,994.
And Cabinet colleagues have to settle for just £166,206, nearly 40 grand less.
Mandelson, dubbed Prince of Darkness, made a shock return to front-line British politics two months ago after working as a European Commissioner.
He was given a seat in the House of Lords and instantly became one of the Prime Minister’s closest advisers after a decade of bitter rivalry.
And even though he is no longer an MP his total package makes him top dog in Parliament’s pay stakes.
The News of the World can reveal Mandy is able to enjoy such a massive wedge because he has been given a huge £78,000-a- year “transitional allowance” from the European Union.
He also copped a one-off payment of £15,200 for “resettlement expenses”—even though all he had to pay for was a one-way ticket from Brussels to London (from £51 on Eurostar!).
Added to that Mandelson gets £104,386 as Business Secretary PLUS his House of Lords allowance of £5,192 . . . total £202,778.
As a bonus he also gets away with paying less tax than anyone else in the Cabinet. His EU dosh is taxed at 26 per cent rather than the 40 per cent on UK earnings.
That saves him a useful £10,920.
On top of that he has been able to build up a massive retirement pot because of his various careers in the EU, the Cabinet and as a former MP. By the time he is 60 in five years’ time, Lord Mandelson will be able to claim at least £75,550 a year as a pension.
He also has a house in the poshest part of London’s exclusive Regent’s Park, bought for £2.4 million in 2006.
A Mandelson aide insisted: “There’s nothing wrong with Peter taking a salary to which he is legitimately entitled.”
But the move is likely to anger voters. Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance campaign group branded it “a vast amount” and a “bad example”.
He added: “This shows the massive divide between unaccountable people in power and the taxpayers who foot the bill.”
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