Theresa May’s chief Brexit adviser Ollie Robbins was paid a bonus of up to £20,000 – despite the chaos surrounding her exit strategy.
The Prime Minister personally signed off on the money – which comes on top of his the bumper pay packet of up to £165,000 a year.
Brexiteers slammed the decision to pay him the money as ‘breathtaking’ and urged a radical rethink.
The shock revelation, buried in civil service accounts, comes as the PM’s Brexit strategy has been plunged into turmoil and savaged by Brexiteers and Remainers.
Oliver Robbins was paid £20,000 on top of his £165,000 salary last year while working as permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the EU
Theresa May (pictured today in Northern Ireland with DUP leader Arlene Foster) is facing a battle on all fronts to get her Chequers Brexit blueprint through
Her hugely controversial Chequers plan sparked a wave of resignations – including the dramatic departure of Brexit Secretary David Davis and Boris Johnson.
And she faced fierce criticism from seething Brexiteers and Tory Party activists who have torn into her proposals – warning they will scupper the UK’s ability to strike trade deals globally.
May to go o Brexit summer tour to sell Chequers to seething Tory activists
The PM’s (pictured in the Commons yesterday being grilled by the liaison committee) compromise Brexit plan sparked fury among Tory activists who have accused her of abandoning her original bold plans to keep the UK tied to EU rules.
Theresa May will go on a summer Brexit tour to try to sell her Chequers plan among seething Tory activists who have slammed it.
The PM’s compromise Brexit plan sparked fury among Tory activists who have accused her of abandoning her original bold plans to keep the UK tied to EU rules.
Boris Johnson seized upon this Tory rage yesterday as he delivered a fiery Commons resignation speech which tore into the PM’s ‘dithering’ over Brexit.
Tory activists in the party’s heartlands have boiled over in rage at the blueprint, which they warn will block the UK being able to strike out and do global trade deals.
The PM is expected to visit different parts of the UK over the long summer break to desperately try to drum up support for her plans, according to The Times.
The long-awaited Chequers plan was only unveiled two weeks ago – but it has bombed with activists and triggered a wave of hugely damaging government resignations.
While Remainers have also revolted in fury at her strategy – and mounted a Commons rebellion on a customs union which was only narrowly defeated by the PM.
The bonus means Mr Robbins takes home more money than the PM – who is paid £152,819 a year.
Sir Bill told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Robbins’ bonus should be examined by MPs on the Public Accounts Committee which monitors public spending.
He said: ‘It is breath-taking that he should get a bonus in these circumstances with the negotiations in the condition that they are, followed by the Chequers debacle.’
And the bonus is likely to spark anger among other Brexiteers, who do not trust Mr Robbins and think he has piled pressure on the PM to radically later – and soften – her negotiating strategy.
Mr Robbins was the top civil servant in the Brexit department and worked closely with Mr Davis until he moved to Mrs May’s team last September.
It came amid reports that he had repeatedly clashed with Mr Davis over the crunch EU negotiations.
His move to the PM’s team came as part of a move by No10 to exert far more control over the negotiations with Brussels and he is behind her new Chequers strategy.
Ex Brexit Minister Steve Baker has said the PM has been running a year-long ‘cloak and dagger’ operation to thwart a clean Brexit and keep ties with the EU.
Mr Baker, who dramatically quit as Brexit minister last week – lashed the Prime Minister over her hugely controversial Chequers plan.
He said the proposal had been worked up by an ‘establishment elite’ who are hellbent on keeping the UK tied to Brussels.
Olly Robbins (left) with Sir Tim Barrow (centre) and David Davis (right) at a meeting in February
Tory MPs and activists in their heartlands erupted in fury after the new blueprint – which keeps the UK tied to EU rules on the trade of goods – was unveiled.
Mr Johnson issued a damning resignation letter in which he accused the PM of waving the white flag of surrender and turning the UK into a colony.
And yesterday he issued a fresh devastating assessment of it – using a fiery resignation speech in the Commons to last Mrs May for a ‘dithering’ Brexit strategy and issue a rallying cry to his supporters that it is not to late to ‘save Brexit’.
His words were widely seen as an audacious pitch for the PM’s job.
Mrs May is expected to go on a summer Brexit tour to sell her Chequers plan as she desperately tries to quell the anger at it boiling over in Tory heartlands.