BBC presenter Nick Robinson admits he can't justify his six-figure salary the corporation pays him

The BBC's former political editor has said he does not deserve his six-figure wage in an attack on the corporation paying high salaries.

Nick Robinson, who presents the flagship Today programme on Radio 4, said he 'can't even try' to justify his pay packet, which the broadcaster's latest annual report showed was up to £294,999 a year.

Speaking to Environment Secretary Michael Gove at the Buxton International Festival in Derbyshire, the journalist, 55, said: 'People ask, 'Why are you paid so much more than doctors and nurses?' I earn it because I work for someone who chooses to pay me that money. I can't justify it.'

Mr Robinson, who worked as political editor for a decade up to 2015, also confessed to earning more than his female colleagues. But he added: 'I'm not paid more than them now for a single programme. It's additional payments for additional work.'