No, minister - Sir Gus denies fat-cat civil service claims

The head of the civil service has refuted suggestions he presides over a workforce of "feather-bedded, pen-pushing bureaucrats" on football-star salaries.

In an unusually forthright public intervention, Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell yesterday insisted most civil servants' pay and pensions were below average, even for the public sector.

The government's move to publish the salaries of better-paid Whitehall officials has focused attention on mandarin remuneration. And ministers have criticised the pay, perks and performance of so-called "fat cats" in the civil service.

But Sir Gus said: "It is hard not to grow weary of the repeated references to feather-bedded, pen-pushing bureaucrats in Whitehall. The reality is that over 85 per cent of all civil servants are outside London, working across the whole country and overseas, delivering and supporting front-line services."