When Gordon Brown became British prime minister in June 2007, his ￡187,000 salary made him the highest-paid national leader in Europe. On the world stage, he fared well, too, coming within a whisker of the US president's $400,000 per annum, and earning about five times more than the Russian president.

Two years on, Brown has lost considerable ground, in particular to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, whose salary doubled in 2008. The exchange rate also hasn't helped. So should the British PM award himself a hefty pay rise?

Probably not. In October 2007, a mooted €38,000 increase in the salary of Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, which would have taken it to €310,000, was deferred in the face of some outrage. Ahern's successor, Brian Cowen, accepted a 10 per cent pay cut.