The salary of a "special adviser" who helps Samantha Cameron with her social diary and fashion style is being paid for by the taxpayer.

The aide – normally a position for people who help Government ministers – receives up to £53,000 for advising the prime minister's 44-year-old wife, according to the Mail Online.

Rosie Lyburn, a former model and grandaughter of late Conservative politician Lord Elliott, was hired after last year's general election.

Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, labelled the post a "vanity appointment" in the context of cuts to public funding.

"I've just visited my local Jobcentre, which has had a seven-year recruitment freeze," she told the Mirror.

"When tough decisions have to be made, I'm not sure the wife of the prime minister needs a special adviser."

Rosie Lyburn, a former model and parliamentary assistant to Conservative MPs, is employed as a special advisor to the prime minister's wife (LinkedIn)

The 28-year-old's salary is reportedly in Pay Band 1 on Number 10's register of special advisers, which covers a range up to £52,999 a year. The average UK salary is £26,500 a year.

A similar debate arose over Ms Lyburn's predecessor Isobel Spearmen, a former fashion PR worker, who was appointed as a stylist for Samantha Cameron in 2012.

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Mr Cameron has also been criticised for hiring an "image consultant" at the taxpayer's expense.

At the time Tom Watson, Labour MP for West Bromwich East near Birmingham, said: "The vanity of David Cameron is costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds.

"It's outrageous that he is creating a royal court while at the same time axing half a million public workers."

Samantha Cameron's fashion

Ms Lyburn, who went to Durham University, was a model at Beulah London, and also worked as parliamentary assistant to Conservative politician Alok Sharma and an events manager for the Conservative Party.

She is reportedly a friend of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate.

The government's register lists some 92 "special advisers" at a cost to the taxpayer of £8.4 million a year.

The Conservative Party has presided over about £23bn of spending cuts during their first parliament in power, and are expected to cut spending by another £28bn in the current parliament, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies.