Revealing BBC pay is like a yearly turkey shoot, says Mayo (on up to £400,000)

‘Don’t like talking about money’

HE takes home up to £400,000 a year – so it is perhaps no surprise that Simon Mayo says he finds the BBC’s new policy of publishing staff salaries ‘uncomfortable’. His wages of between £350,000 and £400,000 were revealed last July when the corporation declared how much its top stars were paid.

The 59- year- old told Radio Times: ‘My worry is that it will become like a yearly turkey shoot and I think it’s often used as a stick to hit the BBC with.

‘The critics are saying “Look at this, this isn’t right” – but actually their broader agenda is dismantling the BBC, so that’s one of the reasons why it’s so uncomfortable.’

Mayo’s drive-time programme on Radio 2, which ended last week after an eight- year run, attracted around six million listeners. He is now teaming up with Jo Whiley for a weekday show on the same station, from 5pm to 8pm. The pair will receive equal pay for the programme, the BBC said.

In their joint interview with Radio Times, Miss Whiley – who was listed as earning between £150,000 and £200,000 last year – disagreed with Mayo on publishing salaries.

‘It’s ludicrous to think two people would be doing the same job and be paid different amounts of money because of their sex ... that’s just unfathomable,’ the 52year- old said.

‘I don’t like talking about money at the best of times, but if it’s necessary to put things right, to correct the balance so that women are treated fairly and are paid fairly for the job that they are doing, then let’s discuss it, bring it on.’

Mayo, who used to go on family holidays with Miss Whiley when their children were little, said it would have been unwise for him to be partnered with a man as the station revamped its schedule. ‘ It would have been odd if it had been two guys turning up,’ he said.

‘We never had that conversation because it went as far as working with Jo and that was it. Jo and I didn’t say “Hey, let’s do a show together” but when the idea was floated to me, Jo was about the only possible presenter I could imagine working with.’

Mayo, who also presents a weekly show on Radio 5 Live, said he was disappointed that his popular book club segment would not be part of his new Radio 2 programme.

Miss Whiley is the first female presenter on the station’s weekday daytime schedule since Debbie Thrower in 1998. Sara Cox and Cerys Matthews, the lead singer of Nineties pop group Catatonia, have also been handed new Radio 2 shows.

The station emerged as one of the biggest culprits for paying more to men and side- lining women when the BBC published its ‘rich list’ last year.