On Tuesday, we ran this Press Association story, which said John Bercow was refusing to reveal whether he was taking his full £144,520 salary as Speaker.
It speculated whether, like his predecessor, Michael Martin, and members of the cabinet (who are paid the same) he was abiding by the 2009 pay freeze and taking just under £142,000.
The story included a quote from a spokeswoman for the Speaker, who said there were "protocol difficulties" with answering the questions.
In the interests of fairness, I should report that Bercow has put out statement today saying he is paid at the same rate as a cabinet minister. He says that's £141,647.
On Wednesday evening, I discovered that the Press Association had asked for confirmation of my salary level.
When the reporter initially asked my office for that information, the response was that, as a matter of established practice, the Speaker did not answer such enquiries and the matter was not referred to me.
In other words, officials working for Martin got so used to his refusal to answer questions from the press that they gave up even bothering to ask him about them.
