Montague speaks of ‘rage’ over wage gap

BBC Radio 4 presenter Sarah Montague has said she was “incandescent with rage” and “felt a sap” when she learned she was paid far less than her Today programme co-stars.

The broadcaster has now left Today to become the lead presenter of the radio station’s World At One and she wrote in the Sunday Times that she negotiated a better salary by using “the pay of previous presenters as a guide”.

Montague swapped her Today role with Martha Kearney, who was revealed last year to be earning between £200,000 and £249,999.

Writing in the newspaper, Montague said she “hadn’t clocked just how professionally damaging it would feel” to know she was earning less than her Today colleagues.

Montague, who was a key member of the hosting team for 17 years, revealed she was paid £133,000 and that it “was a very good wage for a job that I loved”.

Salaries revealed by the BBC in July last year showed Today programme host John Humphrys was earning £600,000 to £649,000 for the morning news programme.

Nick Robinson is on £250,000 to £299,000, Mishal Husain is in the £200,000 to £249,000 pay bracket and Justin Webb earned between £150,000 and £199,999.

After initially thinking she might feel good for “taking less of the licence fee than others”, Montague said she “felt a sap” for “subsidising other people’s lifestyles”.

“I had long suspected that I was paid much less than my colleagues but until the pay disclosures I had no idea of the scale of that difference,” Montague, 52, wrote.

A BBC spokeswoman said: “As we’ve made clear previously, the BBC is committed to closing our gender pay gap by 2020 and the figures show we are already performing better than most other media companies.”

Sarah Montague.