HS2 accused of jobs for the boys over £535k-a-year boss
The taxpayer-funded company behind HS2 has been accused of jobs for the boys after its new boss was hired from one of the project's main contractors.
Campaigners said Mark Thurston will still have the biggest public sector salary when he takes up the £535,000 post as HS2 Ltd chief executive later this year even though his predecessor Simon Kirby earned £750,000.
Mr Thurston had previously been in charge of all European affairs for engineering firm CH2M which has won contracts on the new high-speed rail line worth about £400 million.
Stop HS2 campaign manager Joe Rukin said: "We have always said HS2 is all about jobs for the boys and the bosses seem to be running their own gravy train, endlessly appointing their old cronies.
"Over half a million may be a pay cut for the post, but it is still a grotesque salary, higher than anyone else in the civil service is getting and comes at a time when front line staff across the public sector are facing pay freezes and redundancy.
"HS2 has proved from start to finish that it is a financial black hole and those in charge of it don't care, they just all want a slice of the action.
"There are an ever increasing number of snouts in an ever expanding tax-payer funded trough."
Mr Thurston will be entitled to a bonus of up to £53,500 a year and a pension allowance of £65,000. Temporary HS2 Ltd chief executive Roy Hill is also an employee at CH2M.
But Sir David Higgins, outgoing chairman of HS2 Ltd, denied there was a conflict of interests in Mr Thurston's appointment.
"As part of our search for Simon Kirby's replacement I spoke to 20 potential candidates across four continents. Mark stood out because he combined a lifetime's experience in the rail industry in the UK with the skill set you acquire working at a global level. Over the next 10 years he can now use that experience to make HS2 a reality.
"At the same time we recognise the need to avoid any conflict of interest so he will cut all links with his previous employer. They will be treated in the same way as any other supplier – no more or less favourably than that."
