Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: STUART C. WILSON / GETTY IMAGES EUROPE / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP 8:07 p.m., February 2, 2024
For ordinary people, this is a more than comfortable salary. For George Freeman, this was grounds for resignation from the British government. While he was notably in charge of Energy and Industrial Strategy, within the executive led by Rishi Sunak, the minister decided to slam the door last November, during a reshuffle.
“Why did I resign? Because my assumption went from £800 to £2,000 this month, which I simply couldn’t afford to pay on a ministerial salary,” he said in remarks cited by the Guardian. Nearly 1.5 million British households are facing a surge in mortgage costs, caused by the Bank of England’s maneuvers to curb inflation.
“Exhausted” and “depressed”
According to the British daily, George Freeman, MP since 2010, would have received an annual salary of around 118,300 pounds (or a little more than 138,000 euros), which is equivalent to a gross salary of 11,500 euros. However, the minister had to assume significant costs linked to his divorce from his wife. In particular the school fees of his two children.
Having held various positions in successive conservative governments, he regularly benefited from severance pay. In July 2022, when leaving the government of Boris Johnson received 7,920 pounds (a little over 9,200 euros). Across the Channel, ministers under the age of 65 can receive compensation for loss of function, equivalent to a quarter of their salary, in the event that they are not appointed to a new position within three months.
“The time has come for me to focus on my health, my family well-being and my life beyond the front office,” he said when he resigned last November, also saying that, as reports the Mirror“exhausted” and “depressed” after holding five ministerial posts under four successive prime ministers.
The salaries of ministers should not change
Having become a deputy again, he now receives an annual salary of around 100,000 euros. A lower amount than he received as a minister, but the position of MP allows him to take other lucrative jobs, subject to approval from the anti-corruption watchdog. A combination of tasks that was impossible for him as a member of the government.
Questioned by journalists who wondered whether British ministers were paid enough, the spokesperson for Rishi Sunak’s government indicated that no review of the pay scale for MPs and ministers was planned.
2024-02-02 20:38:26
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