'Hypocrite': Rees-Mogg pocketed £16,800 for seven weeks work

Former minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has been labelled a "hypocrite" after pocketing almost £17,000 in severance pay for just seven weeks work during his brief stint as business secretary.

The outspoken Conservative MP has come under fire for accepting the payment after previously saying civil servants should have their redundancy pay cut.

Ministers are entitled to a lump sum equivalent to a quarter of their yearly salary if they leave office, are younger than 65 and are not reappointed within three weeks - which happened to Mr Rees-Mogg when former PM Liz Truss quit.

The politician - who earns a £86,584 salary as an MP and £750 an hour as a presenter on GB News - received a payment of £16,800 after leaving the Business Department, worth three months of ministerial wages, according to government figures.

But, in a previous role as government efficiency minister, Mr Rees-Mogg advocated for cutting the redundancy pay for civil servants by a quarter, from four weeks’ salary per year of service to three.

A consultancy document uncovered by the Mirror and produced under his leadership, said changes to redundancy payments would “create significant savings on the current cost of exits”.

Another senior Tory to gain from severance pay is Chairman Greg Hands, who returned to government just in time to receive it.

He accepted a £7,920 payout when he was sacked from the Business Department in September 2022 but he was reappointed a minister four weeks later.

A Labour source said: “It is hard to know who is the bigger hypocrite for accepting these handouts: Jacob Rees-Mogg, who said the severance pay of civil servants was too generous; or Greg Hands, who is constantly preaching that the Tories are the party of sound money.

"They are both as bad as each other, and they deserve a permanent redundancy notice from the British people."

Both Mr Rees-Mogg and Mr Hands have been contacted for a response.

Severance pay for ministers is costing the taxpayer hundreds of thousands a year

The chaos of government during the tenure of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, in which numerous promotions and demotions were made, saw former ministers given £455,000 in severance pay.

Both former prime minister received £18,660 after resigning, while Kwasi Kwarteng was given £16,876 when he quit as chancellor after less than six weeks in the job.

Among the other ministers to receive severance payments was Chris Pincher, who resigned as deputy chief whip over allegations he groped two men in the Carlton Club, precipitating the crisis that saw Mr Johnson leave office.

Mr Pincher received a £7,920 severance payment after stepping down at the end of June 2022.

Ministers can choose not to take a severance payment, while some returned their payments when they were reappointed.

Rishi Sunak, for example, repaid the £16,876 he received when he quit as chancellor.

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Some ministers who received severance payments last year returned to government within months.

These include Grant Shapps, who received £16,876 when Ms Truss replaced him as transport secretary at the beginning of September 2022, but returned as home secretary a month later.

He is reported to have given half of his payment to charity.

Michael Gove also received £16,876 when he was sacked by Mr Johnson as levelling up secretary, a role he has returned to under Mr Sunak.

Both his successors – caretaker Greg Clark and Truss appointee Sir Simon Clarke – also received £16,876 on leaving the department.