MP reveals junior worker’s salary in food bank row

A TORY backbencher came under fire yesterday after he shared a colleague’s personal information and salary details on Twitter.

Lee Anderson posted a picture (below) of Katy Colthup, a parliamentary researcher, and detailed how she didn’t need to use a food bank despite earning less than £30,000 a year.

It comes after Tory ex-minister Simon Clarke was rebuked by Michael Gove and opposition MPs after he said nurses earning £35,000 who use food banks should ‘budget better’. In his tweet, Mr Anderson, who earns £84,000 a year, shared how much Ms Colthup budgets each month.

He said: ‘Katy works for me. She is single and earns less than £30,000, rents a room for £ 5pcm in central London, has student debt,

£120 a month on travelling to work, saves money every month, goes on foreign holidays and does not need to use a food bank. Katy makes my point really well’.

But his tweet was met with a backlash as social media users hit out at the tone of his message, and the hashtag ‘Poor Katy’ started trending on Twitter. Liberal Democrat MP Jamie Stone said Mr Anderson’s tweet had been in ‘really bad taste’.

One Twitter user quipped: ‘Really hope someone offers Katy a better job on the back of his tweet.’ Another wrote: ‘She doesn’t make your point really well at all, because she’s single and childless, and can therefore rent a room rather than a family property, presumably shares utility bills with housemates, and hasn’t got to feed and clothe a family or pay for childcare.’