Originally Posted by Unregistered

No, it doesn't stand to reason to conflate political salaries with civil service salaries. If you're going to scrutinize people who are purportedly trained to become ministers, why not also examine the pay of top CEOs and lawyers and doctors as well?

The fact is that a civil service career is a profession like every other career, and there is good cause for using money to attract the best people. If we accept that there's a need to pay teachers and social workers more to attract better people, then we cannot judge civil servants, even AOs, by another standard. Politics, on the other hand, is a calling and you do not want to attract people with money. You obviously have some agenda against AOs and their pay, so please take it elsewhere.