George Fergusson takes a pay cut before he even starts work as Governor of Bermuda Even before he dons his plumed hat for the first time next month when he takes over as the Governor of Bermuda, George Fergusson already has reason to rue David Cameron's rallying call: "We're all in this together." Mandrake hears that the 56-year-old career diplomat has had to agree to his $231,800 tax free salary being cut by five per cent. It is the latest in a series of indignities that holders of the office have had to take in recent years, with the official Roller having also had to be traded in for a more workaday BMW 750Li. "The governor-designate is clear that, as a member of the Bermuda Public Service, he would expect to take his share of any public service pay cut," a spokesman for Government House in Bermuda says. The comments follow some agitating by Dr Ewart Brown, the former premier of Britain's most populous remaining Overseas Territory, on the issue of the governor's salary. "Not once have I heard even a whisper that the $1.6 million annual outlay that goes to Government House should be cut back," he said. Is there no moral obligation for the British governor to lead by example, and volunteer to take a pay cut? Oops, I forgot. The British are superior. Last month, the government on the island voted to cut the salaries of MPs and senators by five per cent against a backdrop of rising unemployment and ballooning national debt. Once regarded as one of the cushiest postings, with political appointees such as Lord Waddington, the former Conservative home secretary holding it from 1992 to 1997, the governorship has lately been given to career diplomats. Sir Richard Gozney, the outgoing governor, was in the post for nearly five years. The Progressive Labour Party on the island wants independence from Britain, but Fergusson is, happily, a seasoned operator. A former British high commissioner to New Zealand and Samoa, and the governor of the Pitcairn Islands, he is the son of Baron Ballantrae, the governor-general of New Zealand in the Sixties. His middle name "Raukawa" is Maori and reflects the history of members of his family being appointed to vice-regal posts in New Zealand. In New Zealand, he found a way to charm the locals, when, as a seven-year-old, he arrived with his father: he performed a forward roll on the front lawn of Government House to loud cheers. The Bermudians must be hoping for an encore.