Dominic Cummings was handed a huge pay rise before he was forced out of Downing Street last month, it has emerged.
The prime minister’s special adviser, who quit after a No 10 power struggle, was earning between £95,000 and £100,000 when he was recruited.
But when he dramatically walked out of Downing Street in November with a cardboard box of belongings he was being paid between £140,000 to £145,000 documents released today show.
Cummings is due to leave his job at Number 10 this Friday, after quitting last month.
In the last twelve months Cummings’ salary rose to match that of his ally and outgoing head of communications Lee Cain, who is also set to leave Number 10 at the end of this week.
The report listed Cain as also being in the £140,000 to £145,000 band, the same as his salary the previous year.
It also revealed Johnson’s new press secretary Allegra Stratton will be paid between £125,000 and £129,000 a year.
Some 11 special advisors on the Number 10 payroll now earn more than £100,000 a year - not including Cummings and Cain.
But the overall cost of special advisors across government stayed the same, at £9.6 million, including pension contributions.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Boris Johnson defended Dominic Cummings when he broke lockdown rules - then awarded him a £50,000 pay rise. Yet he’s freezing pay for key workers and refusing to give our care workers a pay rise to the living wage.
“Cummings’ bumper bonus is an insult to key workers denied the pay rise they deserve. It’s another example of how under this government it is one rule for the Tory Party and their friends and another for the rest of us.”
