Fern Britton has signed a £700,000 deal to present This Morning despite reports she wanted a 10% pay increase

Fern Britton has had her pay frozen after the controversy over her gastric band surgery.

She has accepted a £700,000-a-year deal to present This Morning - the same amount as in her previous contract.

It was claimed the 50-year-old presenter had been pushing for a 10 per cent pay rise.

ITV bosses are also said to have blocked her plans for a commercial sideline in plus-size clothing.

However, despite these disappointments, Miss Britton's deal means she is one of the highest paid women presenters on daytime TV, along with GMTV presenters Fiona Phillips and Lorraine Kelly.

The new contract, which has been verbally agreed, will be signed off formally in the next few days.

Miss Britton's bubbly personality and voluptuous figure have made her one of daytime TV's most popular presenters.

She recently attracted widespread admiration after dropping from a size 22 to a 16 and shedding five stone after a diet and exercise regime.

But in June this year it emerged that she had also had gastric banding surgery.

She missed four editions of This Morning with 'nervous exhaustion' amid the controversy.

Broadcasting chiefs were already at odds with Miss Britton over her planned clothes range when the reason for her weight loss became apparent.

Last month she admitted her reduced figure was not solely down to her own efforts but the result of drastic surgery. Some viewers felt they had been misled over the affair.

ITV has been desperate to keep negotiations with Miss Britton secret and refused to say when her current contract runs out. She was said to have been close to quitting This Morning in May after arguing with executives over her plans to endorse a range of clothes.

But a source close to the deal confirmed: 'ITV are getting their way on the commercial side.'

Co-host Phillip Schofield is believed to have recently secured a £1.6million deal to stay on This Morning and other ITV shows until 2010.

Fern Britton returned to work with Philip Schofield after missing four days through 'nervous exhaustion' after admitting her weight loss was achieved through a gastric band - and not dieting and exercise as she'd claimed

Staff fury at BBC rises

The BBC's bumper pay rise for top bosses last year has been branded 'obscene' by staff.

Employees vented their fury in the BBC's in-house magazine, Ariel. They are angry at the 16 per cent pay hike awarded to the top brass. The average rise was four per cent.

Two bosses caught up in the corporation's fakery scandals, Jenny Abramsky and Jana Bennett, were among ten executives who shared a combined increase of more than £700,000, last week's annual report showed.