The former chancellor suggested that MPs £86,000 salaries should be doubled, claiming talented people were put off coming to politics because of the pay. Javid, who previously worked in investment banking, said he would like to “halve the number of MPs and double the salaries” – taking their pay to £172,000 a year.

He told an Institute for Government event that the £86,000 salary was partly to blame for a lack of talent in government positions – taking a swipe at Tory ministers who are “not very good at their jobs”. The former cabinet minister said he accepted that MPs pay was “a lot of money” but added “you get what you pay for”.

The comments from Sajid Javid come amid a Tory exodus from parliament, with Mr Javid and around 30 other Tory MP’s announcing that they are standing down at the next general election. Mr Javid said: “One of the reasons I think either people leave or you’re not getting more diverse backgrounds of people in different professions as well wanting to join parliament, I think salary is an issue.

“If people want to see your GPs or senior nurses or headteachers or an accountant give up their job to want to come into parliament they have to take a massive fall in their lifestyle to do it. A lot of people are not willing to do that. So you tend to get in parliament either really rich people who don’t need money and therefore they don’t care if their salary is £88,000 or £28,000.

“Or you will get people that were earning sort of £30,000 – £80,000 is a big jump but they might not come with the skills that parliament needs.”

Sajid Javid became an MP in 2010 and has served in a number of cabinet positions, including Health Secretary and Chancellor.

Senior Tory Sajid Javid says MPs £86,000 salaries should be doubled ‘to attract more talent to Parliament’

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