We do not begrudge our top public servants a decent salary. In most instances they are heading organisations of many thousands of people. In many we are trusting our very lives and limbs.

The question is: When does a decent salary become excessive?

Is the salary of a GP excessive at £200,000 to £250,000? Can a salary of almost £300,000 be justified for the head of one of the world’s greatest universities? And is the head of our biggest local authority worth her £180,000-plus?

These salaries may be eye-watering to most, but Oxfordshire’s top public servants are still by no means the highest paid in their sectors. Politicians have suggested the benchmark should be the salary of the Prime Minister at £142,000. What more high-powered job could there be than running the country? It should not be forgotten that the PM’s salary was closer to £200,000 in the final days of Tony Blair’s premiership. It has been successively cut by both Gordon Brown and David Cameron.

In making those cuts to the Prime Minister’s salary, both Mr Brown and Mr Cameron were sending a signal about restraint in public sector pay.

With most public sector organisations facing significant cuts over the next few years, including job losses, pay freezes and reductions to pension entitlements, is it too much to ask that our top public servants should also lead from the front?