SHAMED CUMMINGS HAD 40% PAY RISE

Lockdown row aide cashes in

PAYDAY Dominic Cummings

BORIS Johnson handed top aide Dominic Cummings a 40% pay rise just months before his No 10 departure.

The wage boost came as the number of Downing Street aides on more than £100,000 almost doubled in the space of a year.

Cummings, brought in for his understanding of working class voters, has had his salary increased by £40,000 to £140,000 since December 2019.

The increase has emerged just weeks after Tory Chancellor Rishi Sunak imposed a freeze on millions of teachers, police, firefighters, social workers and other public sector staff.

It is unclear if Mr Cummings was given the pay rise before or after he sparked nationwide fury with a trip to Barnard Castle during the first lockdown.

He is due to leave his job this Friday, after quitting last month.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: “Boris Johnson defended Dominic Cummings when he broke lockdown rules, then awarded him a pay rise. Yet he’s freezing pay for key workers and refusing to give our care workers the living wage.”

Mr Cummings’ salary rose to match communications head Lee Cain, also leaving this week.

Replacement Allegra Stratton will get up to £129,000.

It leaves 11 special advisers at No 10 on more than £100,000, compared to six listed last year.