John Prescott's salary

I can't believe that I have defended John Prescott twice in 2 days, but here goes. He earns £134,000 a year - at which the newspaper editors and TV reporters are becoming apoplectic. It has recently been revealed that the BBC are paying their top newsreaders £250,000 salaries. Newspaper editors will earn a simialr amount, if not more. Mediocre footballers and even top rugby players will also earn a similar amount. Does Prescott's job (even with the reduction in Department) rank higher in importance to the country than those others? Almost certainly, yes. Is his job 3.5x as important to the country as mine? Almost certainly, yes. I know the public vs private sector arguments on salaries, and the fact that politicians will often have secondary sources of income from unions, corporate directorships, etc., but the fact is that the basic salary for the job of Deputy PM seems very reasonable to me.

He should rightly be criticised for the things he does wrongly, e.g., his badly thought out new housing plans (don't build them on a flood plain, don't ruin the quality of people's lives and housing already there, keep some green space between the urban sprawl), but not for earning a quite reasonable salary.