HE started his town hall career as a little known director at City of York Council – now Joe Duckworth stands to land the biggest town hall pay-off in history.

Mr Duckworth is reported to be in line for a huge redundancy payout after stepping down from his job as chief executive at the London Borough of Newham.

He is said to be the country’s highest earning council chief, with basic pay of £241,000 a year, which with perks and pension included, is believed to mean he makes roughly twice the Prime Minister’s £142,500 salary.

His remuneration, coming at a time when tough public sector cutbacks are looming, has attracted national media coverage.

But it was a different story for the former trade union official when he started out in life in local government with a job as personnel director at the former York City Council in 1991.

Staff at the current authority, City of York Council, struggle to remember him, with one saying: “I remember the name but can’t remember the man.”

On leaving York, Mr Duckworth is said to have worked his way up the town hall ladder through several authorities, including Surrey, Hackney, Westminster and the Isle of Wight, before moving to Islington and then Newham two years ago.