A HIGHLY paid MP deserves his £38k part time salary according to the boss of the University of Bolton.

This week saw satirical magazine Private Eye criticise the university's vice chancellor George Holmes for employing Sir John Hayes, MP for the Lincolnshire constituency of South Holland and The Deepings as a part-time professor in political studies despite the institution having no politics department.

According to the magazine, which is edited by Have I Got News For You panellist Ian Hislop, Sir John, who holds the safest Conservative seat in the UK receives £38k a year for a workload of 20-30 hours per month.

The salary for a full time role at the university is normally between £70,000 and £150,000.

"Anyone doing the sums will see Hayes is, pro rata, quids in," writes the magazine.

Private Eye also questions "what is Hayes doing for his money?" highlighting that only a "handful of seminars" have taken place at the university's Centre For Opposition Studies.

"We are looking at offering a Masters Degree in Politics and you have to have people who have been active in the field to really deliver a quality course," said Mr Holmes. "Sir John is both a very able scholar and a phenomenally vigorous writer.

"It would not be possible to employ a current Government Minister in a role like this because of conflicts of interest so to have a former Government Minister is the next best thing.

"Sir John has shown a lot of interest in our university and he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate last year so he was the obvious choice."

Mr Holmes himself was criticised in 2017 after it was revealed he was paid £290,215 in 2016/17 as head of University of Bolton, up from £224,300 the year before and a rise of nearly 30 per cent, according to the Times Higher Education.

"In this world you get what you pay for," he said. "It is very difficult to attract high-ranking people into very low remuneration positions.

"Sir John Hayes has really strong academic skills, really good experience to offer students and he is very interested in supporting young people."

Mr Holmes added that he hoped 20-30 students would be studying for their Masters in a year's time.