Sweet charity: David Miliband sees pay jump to £646,000

DavID MILIBanD is said to be making a return from america to British politics amid growing speculation that a new centrist party could be launched within months.

But could any new party afford the Blairite former Foreign Secretary?

I learn the King over the Water earned £646,710 ($838,903) basic salary as CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a new York-based aid organisation, in 2017. This represents a staggering 23 per cent rise of £123,000 on 2016’s pay packet when he took home £523,000 and dwarfs the £153,000 annual salary paid to Theresa May.

The IRC accounts are for the year ended September 30, 2017. On top of his ‘reportable pay from the organisation’, Miliband received £36,950 in ‘estimated amount of other compensation from the organisation and related organisations’ for a 37.5-hour working week.

Miliband’s pay has been declared publicly at the Charities Bureau in new York, where International Rescue is based.

When he took up the post in 2013 his salary was £425,000.

The charity cash is not Miliband’s only income, however, as he is thought to have rented out his £3million home in London’s Primrose Hill since moving to new York with his wife, american violinist Louise Shackelton, and their two adopted children. The couple could expect to receive £6,750 a month, or £81,000 a year, in rent. Miliband, 53, fuelled speculation about his return in June when he said that he missed Britain and took Marmite and PG Tips to america with him, adding: ‘Of course I’ll come back. It’s my home. I’m British.’

Friends say that his wife also wants to resume her career with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Miliband, who abandoned British politics after losing the Labour leadership contest to brother Ed in 2010, has held a series of meetings with Tony Blair in recent months.

International Rescue is supported by hefty donations from Miliband’s old pal George Soros, the antiBrexit billionaire, so perhaps he could bankroll David’s salary in Blighty.

Earlier this year, the IRC came under fire for hushing up 37 sex abuse, fraud and bribery allegations.

VETERAN Radio 4 host John Humphrys, who has taken three pay cuts in a bid to help close the ‘gender gap’ with his female colleagues, has an ally in Emma Barnett — though she’d prefer it if women got a pay rise instead.

‘I feel uncomfortable about the idea that the way women should get equality is to earn less,’ the Radio 5 Live presenter says in The Spectator’s new podcast, Women With Balls. ‘I know the BBC is under a microscope, as it should be, but no woman is sitting at home raising a glass of champagne when John Humphrys takes a pay cut. How does that benefit her?’

Samantha Cameron reveals how being a busy fashion designer is affecting her bedtime routine. ‘I read for about 45 minutes every night when I get into bed, but sometimes it’s as little as five because I’ll fall asleep straight away,’ the Cefinn creator tells me. ‘I get very tired at the end of the day because the fashion label is really hard work, but it’s also very fun, which makes it worth it.’ Rather the opposite to her husband ex-Pm David’s plight, who complains that he’s bored witless . . .