The former Sunderland Council chief scored a bumper rise of almost £20,000 a year when he arrived at Lancashire County Council earlier this year and now earns £190,000 a year.

That is more than the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who pulls in £188,848 a year.

An investigation into the salaries of chiefs at 111 authorities by a national newspaper has revealed that just nine other chief executives earn a salary of more than or equal to Mr Fitzgerald, whose pay is almost three times the basic wage of an MP.

Michael Jack MP for the Fylde said: "If someone is doing an exceptional job and producing for whoever they are employed by an extremely good result then sometimes it is worth paying a premium.

"What the public get hacked off about is people being paid large sums of money for not doing anything additional or special.

"So it is very important when it comes to the running of the county council that the people who appointed Mr Fitzgerald make it very clear what attracted them to appoint him and what he should be delivering."

Matthew Sinclair, policy analyst at the Taxpayers' Alliance said: "We are far from convinced that these officials are really justifying these salaries in terms of results."

But since Mr Fitzgerald took over at LCC in June, the council has retained its four star excellent rating from Audit Commission watchdogs.