TAXPAYERS have spent nearly £4 million paying off failed Conservatives after their year of political chaos, Labour research showed today.
Slammed as “shameless grifters” by Labour’s Emily Thornberry, a number of top Tories pocketed severance after just a few weeks in office – and then sometimes returned to the same posts.
The final bill for the ministerial merry go-round in 2022 is just under £1 million, as one minister succeeded another at breakneck speed while the Johnson and Truss premierships imploded.
And cash for numerous special advisers, made redundant when their political bosses were sacked, added a huge £2.9 million.
Ministers are entitled to three months’ salary in severance. Present cabinet members Michael Gove and Grant Shapps took the cash, even though they returned to cabinet on full pay a matter of weeks later.
And calamity chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng claimed his severance despite crashing the economy during a 40-day tenure of office.
Others got the pay-off despite serving in office for only a few weeks in the last stages of Boris Johnson’s government – then in some cases returning to the exact same post.
And one minister, Brandon Lewis, managed to get paid severance twice amid the chaos.
Both Mr Johnson and Ms Truss also picked up payments on the way out of the door of No 10.
Peter Bone and Chris Pincher both picked up compensation despite losing their government roles because of allegations of misconduct – and in the case of Mr Bone despite being too old to qualify.
Plymouth MP Johnny Mercer served two months as veterans minister, took a pay-off of nearly £8,000, told local media that he hadn’t done so and then returned to the same job seven weeks later.
Shadow attorney-general Ms Thornberry said: “These are the wages of chaos, with Britain’s taxpayers forced to pick up the bill.”
The payouts, she added, were “a sick reward for the mess they made of our country and the damage they did to our economy.
“It is especially appalling to see so many Tory MPs who felt entitled to claim three months’ severance for just a few weeks’ work; to accept new jobs while still benefiting from the previous severance payment they had received; or to pick up their payouts even after being forced out due to misconduct.”
