It might take an annual income of more than £400,000 to feel rich in London but to live the life of the capital’s true plutocracy takes an almost unimaginable multiple of that sum.

Mind-boggling as the ­stipends of the super-rich may be, the ranks of London’s highest earners have been swollen by almost 60 per cent in four years. Analysis of income tax records showed that 30,000 people had an income of more than £500,000 – the top 0.1 per cent of earners – compared with 19,000 in 2003-04.