“This is a disgusting waste of taxpayers cash. Paid for failure yet again, the corrupt tory way.”
Despite their awful premierships, both of which ended in disgrace, both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss received more than £18,000 each in compensation when they were forced to quit as Prime Minister.
While millions of people struggle to make ends meet during the cost of living crisis, the pair were awarded the compensation as part of their severance packages, even after their disastrous policies which have caused financial hardship for millions of people up and down the country.
Documents from the Treasury’s annual accounts, slipped out just before MPs went on their summer recess, show that £455,392 was paid out to former ministers – some of whom re-joined the Government months later after the Tories went into meltdown.
The Treasury accounts also reveal that Truss’ chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, got a £16,876 severance package when he was sacked. Kwarteng has refused to apologise for the financial turmoil unleashed during his time in office.
Tory ex-Chief Whip Chris Pincher, who resigned over revelations he had groped two men in the exclusive Carlton Club, was handed an almost £8,000 payout.
The documents also reveal Truss’s decision to sack Sir Tom Scholar, the Treasury’s top civil servant, in September 2022 cost taxpayers around £335,000.
The payments to Truss and Johnson led to widespread anger and condemnation, with one social media user writing: “This is a disgusting waste of taxpayers cash. Paid for failure yet again, the corrupt tory way.”
The Liberal Democrats said in response to the news: “It is an insult that whilst people struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, those responsible for their financial hardship are being showered with tens of thousands in tax-payers’ cash.
“If they had shred of integrity left they would hand these pay-outs back.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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