Compensations of ministerial office

From The Independent, more evidence on how politicians manage to look after themselves:

David Blunkett, who resigned as Home Secretary in December last year following a furore over the visa of his former lover's nanny, received a pay-off of more than £18,000, even though he returned to the Cabinet five months after quitting.
The Government was accused last night of a "grotesque abuse" of taxpayers' money after it emerged that ministers who have resigned from their jobs - and then returned to government - had received thousands of pounds in compensation.
Alan Milburn, who has left the Cabinet twice, was due two official pay-offs. He was entitled to about £17,800 in redundancy cash, after he resigned as Health Secretary in 2003, and £18,700 after he resigned last month as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.