£100,000 for a one-day week

STEVE NORRIS, the Tory candidate for London Mayor, is to get a 150% pay rise to head controversial rail services group Jarvis in a deal which will earn him about £2,000 a day.

Norris, a former Transport Minister, is to be paid £100,000 a year as one-day-a-week non-executive chairman after the company's driving force for the past decade, Paris Moayedi, decided to stand down.

Norris is the company's senior non-executive. Moayedi, 65, quits with a pay-off worth £520,000.

The appointment of Norris has already drawn huge controversy because of the potential conflicts of interest between his political aspirations and his role at Jarvis.

Not only is Jarvis already earning more than £25m a year in profits from its role in the much-criticised part-privatisation of the London Underground, but the company expects to make big profits from future private finance initiative contracts in the capital including the upgrade of the Whittington Hospital, new schools in Richmond and Croydon and student accommodation in Greenwich.

The company described Norris's elevation as an 'interim' appointment but signalled that he would give up the job only if he wins next June's mayoral elections. Norris said today: 'My priority will be to ensure the company regains its reputation.'

That has been tarnished by a string of foul ups which have left its credibility in tatters. The company remains under investigation over the fatal derailment at Potters Bar, Herts.

It was also responsible for work on the faulty track that led to a derailment outside King's Cross and is the company in charge of the maintenance of tracks at Camden Town where there was a Tube derailment last month.

It was relieved of its massive maintenance contracts for Network Rail in October.

The company also came under fire this autumn for operating failures that led to the delayed reopening of five schools under its care on the Wirral. Within the past four years it has been hit by damaging disputes with rail unions and its former auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers.

On the back of its Tube contracts, the company today announced a 77% leap in pre-tax profits to £33m for the six months to the end of September. It is holding its interim dividend at 4.5p.

The shares were down 11 1/2p at 221 1/2p, having lost 40% of their value since summer.

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