Banker who's just like you and me ... apart from his £2.79m pay packet

Even without his £1.79m bonus, nobody would suggest that Eric Daniels's £1m basic salary made him anything other than a handsomely-paid plutocrat. Except perhaps Daniels himself, who yesterday implied to a committee of MPs that he considered his remuneration relatively modest.

Defending the payment of bonuses to his staff before the Treasury select committee, the Lloyds banking group chief executive said: "The recipients of bonuses that I am referring to are people like you and me. They have relatively modest salaries." Lloyds is 43% owned by the government after a £17bn taxpayer-funded bail-out.

Yesterday a spokesman said Daniels's comments had been taken out of context. "Eric is more than aware of the fact that he earns more than most people."

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