Sunderland councillors were involved in a lively spat over the salary of their new chief executive recently. In a clear reference to Nissan - the Japanese car manufacturer with a plant in the area - the Tory opposition leader claimed that when the city was facing massive job losses, the local authority should think'carefully' about its salaries. The new Sunderland chief executive, David Smith, is receiving ￡ 170,000, and some recent awards have been higher than the prime minister's pay. Yet, when invited in the Commons recently to attack a package given to a former chief executive of Northamptonshire, Gordon Brown declined to do so. Perhaps he knows that the well of talent prepared to take on these ever-more demanding jobs is drying up. Whether if s Icelandic banks or ice on the roads, the buck invariably stops at the chief executive's desk. CPA makes the performance of the person at the top more measurable.
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