Boris Johnson's former chief adviser Dominic Cummings received a pay rise of at least £40,000 before leaving 10 Downing Street, government documents have revealed.
In a newly-released annual report on government special advisers' pay, it is stated Mr Cummings was paid between £140,000 and £144,999 a year.
This put him among the top earners in Number 10 before his departure last month, which followed a bitter power struggle among the prime minister's top staff.
And it also showed that Mr Cummings received a pay hike in the last 12 months, with last year's report on special advisers' pay having revealed he was previously on a salary of between £95,000 and £99,999.
Mr Cummings' pay rise came after he helped Mr Johnson secure a thumping victory at last December's general election.
However, the former Vote Leave chief's position in Number 10 soon became less secure after he was accused of breaching coronavirus rules by travelling from London to the North East at the height of England's first lockdown.
Mr Cummings explained a further trip to Barnard Castle by saying he needed to test his eyesight before driving back to London.
The prime minister gave his full backing to Mr Cummings at the time but, in November, Mr Johnson's chief aide left Number 10 after ructions between Downing Street's top political appointees.
Mr Cummings' exit followed shortly after that of his close ally Lee Cain, the prime minister's former director of communications.
In his resignation statement, Mr Cain revealed he had been offered the role of Number 10 chief of staff - an appointment that was said to have been opposed by Mr Johnson's fiancee, Carrie Symonds, and his new press secretary, Allegra Stratton.
In a footnote to this year's annual report on special advisers' pay, it was stated Mr Cain and Mr Cummings are "in the process of leaving their government posts" - although neither have been seen in Number 10 since last month.
Mr Cain was also on a salary of between £140,000 and £144,999, which is the same level as the prime minister's acting chief of staff, Sir Edward Lister, and the man who will take on the chief of staff role from 1 January, Dan Rosenfield.
Ms Stratton, a former journalist, is paid between £125,000 and £129,999, the annual report said.
This is the same as the UK's chief negotiator for Brexit trade talks, Lord Frost.
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said: "Boris Johnson defended Dominic Cummings when he broke lockdown rules - then awarded him a £50,000 pay rise.
"Yet he's freezing pay for key workers and refusing to give our care workers a pay rise to the living wage.
"Cummings's bumper bonus is an insult to key workers denied the pay rise they deserve.
"It's another example of how under this government it is one rule for the Tory party and their friends and another for the rest of us."
