Hold on… why are we paying Jacob Rees-Mogg £17k in compensation?

As one of the people who actually had a hand in making Liz Truss prime minister, surely Jacob Rees-Mogg should be paying us, writes Tom Peck

No slouch: Jacob Rees-Mogg has received almost £17,000 compensation for a ministerial role he was in for just 49 days (Anna Turley/AFP/Getty)

If Jacob Rees-Mogg is entitled to £16,800 compensation for his role in the Truss government, it does rather raise the question: what do the rest of us get?

People appear to be outraged by the news that the former business secretary has received almost 17 grand compensation for a job he was in for just 49 days. You would think, would you not, that as one of the very few people who actually had a say in first making Liz Truss prime minister, and then serving in her cabinet, Rees-Mogg would now have to personally pay compensation to the entire country, rather than the other way around.

But if it doesn’t seem fair that Rees-Mogg has come out of the economy-detonating, mortgage-wrecking Truss weeks at least 17 grand up, then, come on, at least it’s only 17 grand. Compared to the billions made by the managers of all the hedge funds who told Kwasi Kwarteng what a great job he was doing while simultaneously betting on everything going spectacularly wrong, 17 grand is nothing.