In April, the Bank of England’s chief economist and member of the monetary policy committee (MPC) Huw Pill provoked anger when he said workers needed to accept reductions in real income. More recently, the central bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, doubled down by telling workers to moderate demands for higher wages.

These comments by policy-makers about other people’s pay have inevitably raised questions about their own. Last week, headlines in UK newspapers decried the revelation that the Bank