Lineker say more 'brilliant minds' would run for office if MPs were paid more

Gary Lineker has said that a bigger salary would urge more ‘brilliant minds’ to run for office, although he would not enter the Commons himself. 

Lineker, the BBC‘s highest paid presenter who earned £1.35million last year, said a higher paycheck for politicians would entice people but added that the chances of that happening are slim. 

On a basic salary, MPs are paid £84,144, which has the potential to rise to £106,519 for a junior minister.

Lineker told Times Radio that being prime minister, which pays £159,584 a year, ‘must be incredibly difficult’. 

Gary Lineker, the BBC’s highest paid presenter who earned £1.35million last year, said he thinks a higher paycheck for politicians would entice more people

When asked if politicians should be paid more, Lineker added: ‘You’d probably never get that through parliament, but I’ve always thought it’s such an important job . . . if we could tempt the really brilliant minds in the country into the roles, rather than perhaps people that are already self-made, or their family’s fortune. 

‘I don’t think we really entice the great minds in the country and probably a bigger salary would. But I don’t think you’d ever get that through.’ 

Lineker said that being prime minister, which pays £159,584 a year, ‘must be incredibly difficult’ (pictured: Rishi Sunak) 

Although he often wades in on political discussions, Lineker said he would not enter politics himself. 

In October last year he was found to have breached BBC impartiality rules with a social media post criticising the Tories. 

This happened a month after a BBC boss said they were cracking down on Lineker’s politicised tweeting.

A YouGov poll for the Times Radio looked into which jobs are deemed harder and easier than being prime minister.

The majority of those polled said being a surgeon is tougher than running the country (61 per cent), followed by being a nurse (52 per cent) or either a solider or firefighter at 51 per cent. 

However, being an investment banker was deemed as being easier than prime minister, according to 61 per cent of those polled, with 73 per cent saying a journalist was an simpler job and rising further to 81 per cent for professional footballers.

However Lineker said Brits might have confused the occupation they would most like to do with what is necessarily easy, adding that a footballer is ‘probably one of the most difficult jobs in the world’.