Hmmmm - I'm not sure that talent and salary should necessarily be that well correlated. There are other benefits from a job other than salary. This certainly applies to MPs and it also applies to university researchers. As a professional astrophysicist in one of the world's top 5 universities I might be classified as in the top 0.001%, but I don't expect a salary of 150k a year. I'm fairly satisfied with the one I have which is significantly below an MP's. I'd be very happy on a salary matching an MP's

(Actually given that prospect, which isn't impossible in the next 5-10 years, I'd probably trade some of the money for more time for other things by going part time).