The electorate once had the opportunity to elevate Neil Kinnock to the highest office in the land. But in 1992, against the odds, they chose to reject him as prime minister, persisting with John Major and the Tories, and he quickly resigned as Labour leader. That should have been that, except we know it was not.

Failed leadership of the Labour party was followed by years aboard the Brussels gravy train as one of Britain’s European commissioners. Conveniently, Glenys Kinnock, his wife, was already there as a member of the European parliament, having been elected in 1994, a year before he became commissioner.

The Brussels years were good to them and now they are back at the heart of British politics, he as Baron Kinnock of Bedwellty, helping to prop up Gordon Brown’s tottering premiership, she as the government’s hastily appointed new Europe minister.

It is very much a family affair. Their daughter works in Downing Street organising events and meetings, having previously been employed by her mother as an executive assistant when she was an MEP. Lord Kinnock has just stepped down as chairman of the British Council, which is partly funded by UK taxpayers. Their son worked for it for eight years.

So it is worth reminding ourselves just how rewarding the couple’s careers have been.

Together they received nearly £8m in salaries and allowances in Europe for their respective roles as commissioner and MEP. As we report today, they will retire with the considerable benefit of six publicly funded pensions worth a combined total of nearly £185,000 a year. Public service can be so rewarding.

This would be generous enough of unwitting taxpayers as an isolated example, but it is not. Too much money has been sloshing unaccountably around the public sector, both here and in Europe. Today we report on Britain’s highest paid primary school teacher, who rakes in up to £200,000 a year. Less than half of this comes from his salary; the rest he earns as director of a “nonprofit” firm that manages a swimming pool, gym and studio apartments on the school’s premises. Some of the money that was meant to be ploughed back into the school is being creamed off by its own head.

Voters were heartily fed up with the abuse of public money exposed by the scandal over MPs’ expenses. That is reflected in our poll today, which shows a rise in support for the minor parties. But what the MPs were doing merely reflected a more general public-sector culture, in which taxpayers’ money is ripe for plucking. We are promised a new era of austerity for the public sector, in which value for money becomes the watchword and productivity improves. There is little sign of that yet.