Stephen Carter, Gordon Brown's new Principal Special Advisor, may be familiar to assiduous students of TPA campaigns.
Back in November, when we launched the 2007 Public Sector Rich List, Mr Carter came in at Number 32 with a stonking remuneration package of almost £400,000. Having come under fire, he defended himself in the Sunday Times by claiming “I am on the TaxPayers’ Alliance hitlist".
The Carter paranoia complex can only have been further fuelled, then, by the fact that we have been prominent today in criticising his £137,000 salary as Gordon's latest spin doctor. I would like to take this opportunity to reassure Mr Carter that it's not a personal vendetta against him per se, and there is a sure fire way of making sure we never have to criticise him again: stop costing the taxpayer so much money.