Revealed: the 330 civil service fat cats earning more than Boris Johnson

A record number of civil servants are earning more than the Prime Minister, new data have revealed.

More than 330 civil servants are now paid more than Mr Johnson, who receives £161,000 in a salary that combines his role as an MP and government minister.

The Government is required to publish the names and salaries of civil servants paid more than £150,000, which have also increased to a record level after an increase of more than eight per cent in the last year.

One of the highest-paid mandarins in Whitehall is Sue Gray, who is currently investigating Mr Johnson over parties held in Downing Street during the pandemic. She is paid £150,000.

Ms Gray works as the second permanent secretary in Michael Gove’s Levelling Up Department, but has been seconded to the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team to oversee the probe into “partygate”.

The highest-paid official in the Government is Mark Thurston, the chief executive of HS2 Ltd, who is paid £620,000.

The remaining officials in the top 10 all work in the transport sector - with six Network Rail employees paid between £330,000 and £585,000.

General Sir Nick Carter, who stood down as Chief of the Defence Staff in November, is paid £280,000, the data reveal.

Yvonne Doyle, Public Health England’s medical director, who featured in the Government’s Covid response, is paid £205,000.

Simon Case, Britain’s most senior civil servant, ranked 102nd in the highest-paid list, earning £200,000.

The total number of officials paid more than £150,000 has increased by 47 in the last year - an increase of 8.5 per cent.

But the Cabinet Office, which oversees the data, said they have risen because some authorities that were not previously within the scope of the release are now included.

Forty-four of the 47 new entrants to the list work for subsidiaries of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, including staff at Sellafield and Dounreay power stations.