Ministers take 5% pay cut

According to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg - who has now been on television 24 hours a day for more than a week, it seems, and must be direly in need of some sleep - "BBCLauraK-Ministers all taking an immediate five percent pay cut".

Justice Secretary Lord Chancellor Ken Clarke shows us the tiny, damp flat in which he has been forced to live since the swingeing 5% cut. "It's a shithole," he confirms for the benefit of the proles in case anyone thinks this sort of squalor is day-to-day reality.

Cabinet ministers receive an allowance of £79,754 in addition to a MP's salary of £64,766 - giving them a tasty total of £144,520 per annum (source of figures here). Take off 5% and the poor darlings will have to survive on £137,294 a year (2,640 quid and 27p a week). The poor things are going to have to live in grotty, moulding flats on sink estates and feed their families on Asda Smart Price crisps, like unemployed single mothers do.