We all have our pet peeves, but luckily few of us are in a position to inflict them on the entire country. But for several successive secretaries of state ‘fat cat' salaries – and, more specifically, exit payments – have been a source of irritation they have continually tried to address.

As far back as the days of the then secretary of state Eric Pickles, and egged on by the Taxpayers' Alliance rich list, several national politicians have courted the public with claims they would clamp down on excess.