Tony Douglas , the current chief executive of Abu Dhabi airports , will be in charge of the MoD 's equipment programme and will earn £285,000 in salary , with a £250,000 bonus . A defence chief is to become the highest paid Whitehall civil servant after he was awarded a lucrative pay package to sort out botched reforms . Tony Douglas , who will be in charge of the department ’ s equipment programme , is to be given a £285,000 salary and a £250,000 performance-related annual bonus , it has been revealed . His basic salary – double what the Prime Minister earns – is 25 per cent more than that of Bernard Gray , the man he will succeed . It is nearly three times a brigadier ’ s £103,166 salary and 15 times a regular soldier ’ s pay of £17,945 . The fatcat deal comes as 22,000 troops have been axed , along with warships , fighter jets and tanks , under an Armed Forces shake-up . Analysts warn of further devastating cuts to come . Andy Silvester , campaign director at the TaxPayers ’ Alliance , said : ‘ If there isn ’ t a dramatic improvement , taxpayers will be rightly furious at the size of this pay packet . 'As in every part of the public sector , his performance in the job must be open to public scrutiny , and any bonuses awarded must be truly earned. ’ The Ministry of Defence announced the appointment of Mr Douglas , currently chief executive of Abu Dhabi Airports , on Wednesday . He will start in September and is the latest in a line of senior business figures lured into the public sector with the promise of private sector levels of pay . In a statement released by the MoD , Mr Douglas said he would take pride in providing ‘ utmost service quality ’ and ‘ value to the taxpayer ’ . He will take over from Mr Gray , who provoked a furore when he charged the taxpayer £23,000 for luxury hotel stays in his first ten months in the job – at a time when his department faced huge budget cuts . He then faced calls to resign after he failed in his efforts to part-privatise the way the MoD buys defence equipment , costing taxpayers millions of pounds . Mr Douglas 's salary will be double that of the Prime Minister , three times that of a brigadier , on £103,166 , and 15 times a regular soldier ’ s pay of £17,945 ( file image ) Mr Gray , a former Labour adviser and businessman who had been appointed to help bring down the military budget , saw his total pay deal rocket to £385,000 last year . The figure – which included his total pay and perks – was up 30 per cent on the previous year . He will remain on a basic salary of between £220,000 and £224,999 for the rest of his tenure this year – and his performance-related bonus could be the same again , or even higher . Appointed in December 2010 , Mr Gray was in charge of part-privatising the agency which buys all forces ’ kit from pots and pans to fighter jets , but all the bidders pulled out . It was revealed in 2012 that he spent £23,000 on 106 overnight stays at hotels in London and Bristol during his first ten months even though his home was a 60-mile drive from his offices in Whitehall and the equipment arm of the MoD in Bristol . He also had access to a taxpayer-funded official car and driver worth £49,000 . Official figures revealed last year that more than 85 MoD staff earn over £100,000 a year .
Tony Douglas will head up MoD 's equipment programme from September . Takes over from Bernard Gray , and will be paid 49,000 more than him . Pay packet is triple brigadier 's salary and 15 times that of serving soldier .