EXCLUSIVE
Fury as Tory brands public workers overpaid But tycoon has 2 free homes and £10k in rent
PHILIP Hammond branded public workers “overpaid” – while making £10,000 a month renting his home.
The hypocritical Tory Chancellor lives in two plush houses for free. Jeremy Corbyn said: “What planet is he on?”
“It is a simple fact that public sector workers on average are paid about 10% more than private sector workers.
“The only way we can create the high wage economy we want to have sustainably is to increase productivity, to get our public finances into good order. There isn’t a short cut. There isn’t a free lunch.”
Maybe not for ordinary people. But Mr Hammond, who earns £67,505 as Chancellor on top of his MP salary of £74,000, moved rent-free into 11 Downing Street last year after he was promoted by Theresa May. But we can reveal he advertised his five-bedroom townhouse in Belgravia, South West London, for £2,500 a week – enough to pay for five full-time nurses.
Records show he started renting it out in February, just a week before his botched bid to clobber self-employed staff with a tax hike in his first budget.
The property tycoon, who is worth more than £8million, bought it with his wife in 2007 for £1.07million. Others there sell for up to £6.7million.
Up until 2011, when the rules were changed, Mr Hammond was claiming up to £24,000 a year from the taxpayer to fund mortgage interest payments.
He also enjoys free use of Dorneywood, a Buckinghamshire mansion owned by the National Trust which is handed over for use by Chancellors or other top ministers. And a Channel 4 Dispatches programme revealed last week that Mr Hammond could make millions in a deal with a firm if land next to his constituency home in Surrey gets planning permission.
The Chancellor bought the greenbelt three-acre plot for £100,000 in 2008 from a housebuilder with an option to sell it back for a potential £6million and split the profits equally.
Mr Hammond refused to comment on the home he is renting out.
But he denied in the TV interview yesterday claims he made sexist remarks about women train drivers.
Mr Corbyn called on the Chancellor and other Tories to “reconnect” with ordinary people rather than just focusing on their rich chums.
He said: “There should be a bit more time spent talking to those who do the difficult jobs in our public services. That’s who you are there to represent.”