EX-PM rubbishes better rise for nurses while he coins it round the world

FAILED Prime Minister David Cameron provoked outrage from anti-austerity campaigners and Labour MPS last night after attacking them for being selfish. Defending his cap on pay for nurses, teachers and police, the millionaire Tory told South Korean business chiefs: “The opponents of so-called austerity couch arguments in a way that makes them sound generous and compassionate. “They seek to paint the supporters of sound finances as selfish, or uncaring. “The exact reverse is true. Giving up on sound finances isn’t being generous, it’s being selfish: spending money today that you may need tomorrow.” Mr Cameron – who met South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Seoul yesterday – was speaking on one of many stops on his lucrative public speaking circuit, believed to pay up to £120,000 an hour. The former Conservative Party leader, who oversaw seven years of austerity as Prime Minister, froze public sector pay for two years after taking power in 2010. Before he was forced to quit after losing the EU referendum vote, he capped annual rises at a below-inflation 1% every year for the following five years. He is on earnings of £1.5 million, but nurses have suffered a real-terms pay cut of 9.5% in seven years, leaving many relying on payday loans and foodbanks. Shadow Chancellor John Mcdonnell told the Mirror: “Only David Cameron would say hard-working people seeing their living standards fall back and their pay suppressed is good for them. It just further shows how out of touch he was then, and still remains.” Ilford North MP Wes Streeting said: “What on earth does David Cameron know about the pressures facing families who’ve seen their bills going up, but their wages kept down? His comments are a kick in the teeth to people who work a lot harder than David Cameron ever did before he flounced off to the afterdinner speaker circuit, leaving the country in a mess.” Labour MP Anna Turley raged: “Selfish? Selfish to decently pay those who tend our sick, teach our children, risk their lives, keep us safe and society functioning? “The millionaire architect of austerity who tried to balance the books on the backs of the poorest would know all about selfish.” Trade unions also exploded in fury. Unite assis-