Gordon Brown in effect froze David Cameron's pay today. He announced that all ministers would forgo a pay rise in 2009-10. He did not say anything about Cameron, but the leader of the opposition receives £141,820, almost exactly the same as a cabinet minister, and Brown must have known that it would politically embarrassing for Cameron to accept a pay rise that ministers were refusing. To no great surprise, the Tories have just announced that Cameron will accept a pay freeze too.
This will apply to the handful of other Tories who receive a salary as parliamentary office-holders: the chief whip and the deputy chief whip in the Commons, the leader of the Lords and the Lords chief whip.
Not to be outdone, the Tories have also announced that they think that the ministerial pay freeze should apply for 2010-11 too. So, if Cameron wins the election, the cabinet will have to go for a year without a pay rise. If Brown were to stay on as leader of the opposition, he could theoretically accept a pay rise. But, realistically, Cameron may just have announced a pay freeze for the leader of the Labour party from April next year too.
In all this, spare a thought for the Lib Dems. Nick Clegg does not receive an extra salary; he just gets what every other MP receives, £63,291 a year. But this hasn't stopped him getting in on the action. The Lib Dems have announced that Clegg and Vincent Cable, the Treasury spokesman, will forgo the 2.33% pay increase that MPs are getting from April. Other Lib Dem MPs may follow their example. But, if they don't, Clegg and Cable will have the unusual distinction of being the lowest paid MPs in the Commons.
