Wave of resignations cost taxpayer £423k
Payoffs bill includes £16,876 for minister in job for 36hrs
A FORMER minister who quit after less than two days in the job pledged yesterday to give her severance payout to charity after it was revealed she will receive almost £17,000 for resigning.
Michelle Donelan had been promoted from universities minister to education secretary for only 36 hours before she joined the Cabinet mutiny against Boris Johnson yesterday morning.
The severance payment is worth three months of salary – more than she would have received for resigning while in her more junior role. The £16,876.25 payment was revealed to be part of an astonishing £423,000 in severance cash thought to be owed by taxpayers to Conservative ministers who resigned en masse in the rebellion against Mr Johnson.
Under the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, any MPs leaving office are entitled to receive a quarter of their annual ministerial salary.
Responding on Twitter, Miss Donelan said: ‘If this is the case I shall be donating it in full to a local charity.’
She said later that she had asked if there was any possible way to stop the payment ever coming to her but had not had an answer.
More than 50 MPs have resigned from their government or party roles since Tuesday night.
Analysis carried out by the Liberal Democrats found that the cost of severance payments to all former ministers – including Mr Johnson himself – will add up to £423,000.
The Prime Minister, who yesterday announced his plans to reluctantly step down from what he described as ‘the best job in the world’ is in line for a payout of £18,860.
However it is likely to pale in comparison to plentiful opportunities to earn that will come his way as an internationally famous world leader.
Commenting on her party’s analysis of the payouts, Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said: ‘Conservative MPs spent months defending Boris Johnson and failed to get rid of him when they had the chance. The public won’t forgive them for keeping him in place for so long.
‘Now Conservative infighting and sheer incompetence has cost the taxpayer yet more money during this cost of living crisis.’
She added: ‘Conservative ministers who resigned should do the decent thing and pass up their payoffs for the good of the country.’
In the Commons, Labour’s Rupa Huq asked Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis: ‘Can he confirm they will be forfeiting their right to this, because we do not reward failure?’
Mr Ellis replied: ‘The matter she refers to is set in statute so it’s a matter for the law, and that law would have been passed by this House.’
The Cabinet Office was also contacted for comment.