Good riddance: David Cameron with his wife Samantha left 10 Downing Street for obscurity on Wednesday [Image: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images].

Think of, say, council workers who have been laid off and then re-hired for lower pay because the authorities have been given less money (in real terms) every year under David Cameron and can no longer afford to pay the original rate.

If they were to lose their jobs again, would they be paid more because they had lost the severance benefits associated with their previous contracts? No!

But Cameron gets away with giving a golden handshake to his chums. Perhaps he’d think again if this cash was taken from his own pay, but that would never happen either.

David Cameron demanded that his closest aides receive boosted redundancy pay in one of his last acts as prime minister, overruling Whitehall guidance.

On his last day in office, the outgoing prime minister handed his advisers six months of pay instead of the four and a half months stated in their contracts, taking the total bill for their departure to £1m.
John Manzoni, the head of the civil service, had written to Downing Street this week stating: “I do not believe that there is a case for awarding higher sums than those for which the contract allows.”

Manzoni said he recognised “this is a difficult time for the individuals” and noted that “there had been an expectation amongst some that their severance sum would be higher, which has led to some disappointment”.

But he concluded: “My strong advice is that we continue to abide by the provisions in their contracts of employment.”

The special advisers raised concerns because, despite in several cases having worked in Downing Street since 2010, they were “reappointed” after the general election last year. This reduced their payouts, because the election was just over a year ago.

Source: Cameron gave aides extra severance pay against official advice | Politics | The Guardian

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