Brown throws down gauntlet to money-hungry MPs by scrapping his OWN gold-plated pension scheme

In a surprise move, he said he would give up hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of pension payments traditionally due as soon as a prime minister leaves office.

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Instead he will wait until he is 65 - like everyone else.

If he were to resign or lose an election in spring 2009, when he would be 58, this would deprive him of almost £450,000.

His predecessor Tony Blair, by contrast, will benefit from more than £700,000 of taxpayers' money before he is 65.

Mr Brown called on MPs to show the same level of thrift and reject an independent review body's call for them to receive an inflation-busting pay rise of

Instead, he wants them to vote for a staged pay award of 1.9 per cent, bringing them in line with policemen and nurses.

He rejected the review body's call for his salary - and that of other ministers - to rise at a faster rate than backbench MPs.

And Mr Brown announced he would scrap the controversial right of MPs to vote on their own salaries.

The independent Senior Salaries Review Body had recommended all future prime ministers and Lord Chancellors should wait until 65 to receive their pensions.

But the Prime Minister said that he and the current Lord Chancellor Jack Straw would go further and abide by the rule themselves.

The move will cost Mr Brown hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Prime ministers receive a pension worth half of their salary.

Mr Blair retired at 54, giving him 11 years of pension before normal retirement age of around £64,000 a year in today's prices - a total of £704,000.

In fact the figure will be higher because the pension is inflation- linked.

And from 65 he will receive an MP's pension as well.

Mr Brown will not accept any pension before he is 65 - saying he will receive the same as members of his Cabinet.

So if he loses an election in spring 2009, he will forgo seven years of pension - worth £448,000 in today's prices.

Mr Brown also backed the review body's call for changes to MPs' pension schemes - dubbed the most generous in the world - to reduce the cost to taxpayers.

These include ensuring that taxpayers pay no more than 20 per cent of MPs' pension costs.

At present taxpayers are paying almost 40 per cent.

The review body's call for the 2.56 per cent pay rise for MPs would put their salaries up from £60,277 to £61,820.

Staging it would mean they would get the full rise in November, worth 1.9 per cent over the year.

It still means that in a year's time MPs' pay will be 2.56 per cent higher than it is now - and that it will have more than doubled in 15 years.

Leader of the House Harriet Harman said: "In support of the Government's goals for the whole economy, the principles sought for pay in the public sector should also apply to MPs."

The Government did accept the review body's proposals to allow MPs to apply for more allowances to cover a greater number of staff.