Theresa May's chief advisers paid almost as much as she is, figures reveal

Figure is a small cut from the amount spent by David Cameron

British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street (Getty)

The pay bill for the Conservative party’s special advisers – or “spads” – will total an estimated £7.9m this year, Government records show.

Theresa May will keep 32 advisers in Downing Street, the same number as David Cameron, but has reduced the number across Government from 95 to 83.

The lower number of advisers means the total bill for their salaries has fallen by £500,000 from its level of £8.4m under David Cameron.

Golden severance payments for advisers to Mr Cameron's administration, however, totalled £1.7m between April 2015 and 13 July when Ms May took over as PM.

The £8.4m and £7.9m figures compare to the last Labour government’s spending in 2009-2010 of £6.8m on 71 advisers on the Government payroll, though this does not account for inflation.

Ms May’s joint chiefs of staff Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy will each be paid £140,000, roughly twice as much as the base salary of an elected MP - and only fractionally less than the PM's £149,440 salary.

Special advisers are taxpayer-funded political appointees to the “temporary” civil service and are in theory loyal to the governing party or minister who appoints them rather than the Crown, as is the case with non-political permanent civil servants.

They offer political, policy, and media assistance to the ministers to whom they are attached.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has five spads, one fewer than George Osborne employed in December 2015, when figures were last published. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson employs three, while Brexit Secretary David Davis and Trade Secretary Liam Fox have two each.

Labour accused the Government of failing to cap the cost of the political operators.

Deputy leader Tom Watson said: “Theresa May came in to Downing Street promising to put ordinary people first and as part of that promised to cap special adviser pay. She has broken that promise.

“While most people are having to tighten their belts under the Tories, it’s a completely different story for those in Theresa May’s inner circle. Some of these pay rises are eye-watering.

“It shows that for the Tories it’s one rule for them and another for everyone else.”