BBC director-general Tim Davie has been given a pay rise of £75,000, taking his salary past the half-million mark.
The increase from £450,000 to £525,000 represents a 16.6% rise - around five times the current rate of inflation - and puts his salary at more than three times that of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who earns £160,000 a year.
The news comes despite the corporation's huge ongoing cost-cutting measures and the BBC's inability to continue funding free TV licences for all over-75s.
Conservative MP Nigel Mills said that he was fuming that Davie had been awarded a rise, telling The Sun: "The public's view could not be clearer - salaries for top executives and stars are too high at the BBC.
"The idea the person running the BBC earns nearly four times as much as the Prime Minister is baffling. It's impossible to justify."
In response, the BBC pointed out that Davie's salary is "well below the market rate for this type of role", with his counterparts at ITV and Channel 4 currently being paid around twice as much.
Neil Wilkes
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