Downing Street has defended Liz Truss‘s new chief of staff after it emerged he is being paid through his lobbying firm instead of directly as a Government employee.
No10 said that Mark Fullbrook was ‘on secondment’ from Fullbrook Strategies and it had cleared the arrangement which sees his salary paid to the company set up in April.
Usually special advisers are paid directly as employees and their salary is liable for income tax. Mr Fullbrook’s predecessor as chief of staff under Boris Johnson was paid £140,000.
But being paid via his firm could allow him to be classed as a contractor, a move which could potentially lower his tax bill.
He would also be a potential beneficiary of changes to tax accounting for contract workers unveiled by Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday in his mini-Budget.
Controversial reforms to IR35 accounting rules will be scrapped as part of a package of measures to simplify the tax system.
A spokesman for Mr Fullbrook last night denied the arrangement was being…
