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ONE of Britain’s highest-paid town hall chiefs, under fire for ­spending money on a leadership coach and expensive hotels, has accused her critics of being motivated by envy.

Andrea Hill, who earns £218,592 a year as chief executive of Suffolk County Council – £75,000 more than Prime Minister David ­Cameron – made the extraordinary claim in a newsletter sent to 10,000 staff.

Her 1,800-word article comes amid revelations that she stayed at upmarket hotels at taxpayers’ expense so she did not have to get up early to drive 60 miles from her home in Cambridgeshire for breakfast meetings in ­Ipswich.

A Freedom of Information request revealed Mrs Hill, 47, claimed £170 for two nights at Kesgrave Hall hotel, near ­Ipswich. and £120 to stay in the four-star Brudenell hotel, on the seafront in Aldeburgh, Suffolk.