Church fat cat’s salary climbs to £409,000

HOW typically hypocritical of today’s Church of England leadership to preach one thing but do the opposite. During the election campaign, Anglican bishops made the highly political move of issuing a 52-page letter urging Christians to resist the power of big business.

Their call for an end to the freemarket ideas embodied by Margaret Thatcher, which they claimed were ‘ entrenching inequality’ between rich and poor, infuriated the Tory Party.

Yet just a few weeks later, Church leaders now appear to be happily embracing big-business values.

For the l atest report by the Church Commissioners, who handle the C of E’s investments, reveals that they awarded a £75,000 pay rise to their director of investments. The 18 per cent increase, at a time when the Government has imposed a public sector pay freeze, brings Tom Joy’s total salary package to £409,000.

Of course, the Church has to employ the best financial brains to look after its investments, but such a large amount of money will shock many parishioners working hard to raise funds.

Indeed, Mr Joy is not the only person being well-rewarded by the Church. Ten of the commission’s 229 staff earn more than £100,000 a year.

The report says: ‘ The Church Commissioners is a l arge and sophisticated institutional investor investing in a broad range of asset classes including significant property holdings and as such seeks to attract and retain high- calibre investment professionals.

‘Accordingly, salaries are designed to reflect the market for investment specialists…’ Spoken like true Thatcherites.