We’ve set a trap for ourselves on Sunak and Starmer’s tax returns

Political outrage over earnings has not left us any wiser says Chris Blackhurst

(UK Parliament/PA)

For years, the Daily Mail and others have propounded the theory that the highest paid public employee in the country should be the prime minister.

They’ve gone further and used the salary – currently £164,951 – as the yardstick by which even private sector wages are measured. So we read that someone earns five times what the prime minister makes, which is another way of saying they’re greedy and paid too much.

It’s an imperfect comparison of course, because there are no market forces determining pay levels for prime ministers as there are with even many civil service as well as commercial jobs. It’s also irrelevant. Boris Johnson has picked up more than £5m in speaking fees in the six months since he moved out of No 10. Sure, it might have been a struggle for him and his family financially when he was running the country, but presumably not any more.