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Chief of staff now receives taxpayer-funded salary of £170,000 – meaning she is on £3,000 more than Prime Minister
Sir Keir Starmer is facing a backlash from his own staff after rewriting the rules to pay Sue Gray, his chief of staff, more than the Prime Minister.
Ms Gray now receives a taxpayer-funded salary of £170,000 – meaning she is on £3,000 more than Sir Keir. Previously, the top salary band for special advisers was £140,000 to £145,000.
It has led to questions about the balance of power in No 10 amid claims that Ms Gray is an “extremely powerful” chief of staff.
One Whitehall source told The Telegraph they had been left “speechless” by the news of Ms Gray’s salary.
Speaking to the BBC, another source said: “It speaks to the dysfunctional way No 10 is being run – no political judgment, an increasingly grand Sue who considers herself to be the Deputy Prime Minister, hence the salary, and no other voice for the Prime Minister to hear as everything gets run through Sue.”
Another Government insider called Ms Gray’s pay “the highest-ever special adviser salary in the history of special advisers”.
The former senior civil servant has great influence in her Downing Street role, which extends to involvement in ministerial appointments and top-level decision-making.
It was claimed in the initial BBC report on her pay that she had turned down a lower offer, meaning she would have received less money than the Prime Minister.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “It is false to suggest that political appointees have made any decisions on their own pay bands or determining their own pay. Any decision on special adviser pay is made by officials, not political appointees.
“As set out publicly, special advisers cannot authorise expenditure of public funds or have responsibility for budgets.”
The Conservatives have raised a number of questions for Labour and the Cabinet Office over what they described as an “unprecedented pay deal”.
The party demanded that Downing Street reveal whether Sir Keir personally signed off the salary, and what role Ms Gray played, if any, in the setting of her salary.
As leader of the opposition in 2021, Sir Keir criticised a five-figure pay rise for Dominic Cummings, who was chief adviser to Boris Johnson during the first half of his premiership.
The Labour leader wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “£40,000 per year pay rise for Dominic Cummings. £3.50 per week for NHS nurses. The mask has slipped.”
Ms Gray was accused of cronyism last month after a former Labour think tank staffer was given a senior role in the Cabinet Office.
She became a household name in 2022 when she led a report into alleged lockdown-breaking parties across Downing Street and Whitehall amid the partygate scandal.
Sir Keir then poached her as his chief of staff in March last year, prompting accusations from the Conservatives she had broken impartiality rules. Labour has repeatedly insisted all rules were followed around Ms Gray’s appointment.
A spokesman for Sir Keir said: “We never comment on staff salaries.”
Government sources added that salary data is set out annually in the ministerial pay report and special advisers annual report.
Like special advisers to the Government, Ms Gray’s salary is covered by the taxpayer.
Liam Booth-Smith, who was Rishi Sunak’s chief of staff, was paid between £140,000 and £144,999. His penchant for leather jackets earned him the nickname “the Travolta of the Treasury”.
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