'Fat cats' criticised for pay rises

The 300 highest earners employed by the state took home an average of £237,564 - an increase of 12.8%. Seventeen raked in more than half-a-million pounds, according to a "rich list" compiled by campaigning group the Taxpayers' Alliance (TPA).

The scale of the payouts will be an embarrassment for Gordon Brown at a time when he has been insisting on a 2% cap for rank-and-file public sector workers.

The Prime Minister himself trails in at 143 in the roll, with a salary of £188,849. Last year Tony Blair made it to 88th, indicating the pace of wage inflation among other bosses.

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TPA, said the top earners were regularly prospering in spite of poor performance.

"Too often, public sector executives are rewarded handsomely even when they fail," he said. "At a time when the Government is rightly aiming to restrain public sector pay increases to 2%, these top officials shouldn't be hiking their pay by six times as much."

The list includes senior executives at public bodies, as well as Whitehall officials and advisers. However, it does not include local Government bosses.

Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier led the field, earning a total of £1,256,000. That was a rise of 21% despite overseeing a torrid spell of industrial unrest and scrapping of the second daily post delivery.

The 10 best paid received an average of £799,000 - some 40 times as much as the basic salary for a nurse or soldier. The lowest remuneration on the list was a mere £150,000.

Several thousand GPs are thought to be paid enough to feature in the roll, but the researchers only looked at those whose salaries are declared in published accounts.