How Starmer's embattled Chief of Staff sparked row with £170k pay

Sue Gray triggered bitter infighting at the top of government last night after receiving a bumper pay rise that takes her salary above that of the Prime Minister. 

Sir Keir Starmer's controversial chief of staff faced a backlash from senior officials after leaked details of her salary revealed her pay has been boosted to £170,000.

Her pay rise comes at a time when ministers claim that money is so tight they have been forced to scrap the winter fuel payment for ten million pensioners.

Ms Gray was reported to earn around £150,000 when she worked for Labour in opposition, but it now eclipses the Prime Minister's salary of £166,786.

She is also eligible for a £90,000-a-year gold-plated pension from a £1.8million retirement pot accrued during her years as a 'neutral' civil servant.

One Labour insider joked that the 67-year-old had now become 'the only pensioner better off under Labour'.

Downing Street did not deny reports last night that Ms Gray rejected advice to keep her salary below the Prime Minister's to avoid controversy.

Details of her salary were leaked to the BBC.

One source told the broadcaster: 'It was suggested that she might want to go for a few thousand pounds less than the Prime Minister to avoid this very story. She declined.'

The revelation is the latest in a series of damaging leaks about Ms Gray who is said to have 'made enemies across Whitehall'.

One senior official told the Mail: 'It is open season on her – she is losing her authority fast and it already looks like her departure is inevitable.'

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Details of her pay caused anger among other Labour advisers who are already in talks to form a trade union after having their pay cut on joining government.

One said she was already unpopular, adding: 'This just makes it worse – it is staggering.'

Another Whitehall source said: 'They wanted to keep the overall pay bill down below the level of the last government, so other salaries have had to be squeezed to accommodate hers.'

In a post on social media, Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick said: '£20,000-a-year pay rise for Sue Gray. £600 cuts for some pensioners on as little as £13,000 a year. Starmer's hypocrisy reeks.'

Former Tory minister Nigel Huddleston said the bumper pay rise suggested that Ms Gray was the real power behind the throne in Downing Street.

He added: 'It's an important principle of management that the boss – the one calling the shots and making the big decisions – should get paid the most.'

But Health Secretary Wes Streeting played down the matter last night, saying the Government was 'lucky to have Sue Gray'.

The row is another self-inflicted controversy for Sir Keir, whose preparations for his first Labour Party conference as Prime Minister this weekend have already been rocked by controversy over his decision to accept clothes worth thousands of pounds for himself and his wife, Victoria, from Labour donor Lord Alli, who was handed a rare No10 pass after the election.

Ms Gray came to prominence when she was put in charge of the controversial Partygate investigation into Boris Johnson, which helped to trigger his downfall.

She stunned civil service colleagues the following year when she quit her high-powered role at the heart of government to join Labour as chief of staff to the leader of the opposition.

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As Downing Street chief of staff, Ms Gray sits on No10's pay board, which sets salaries for advisers.

Her £170,000 pay packet is the highest ever awarded to a special adviser and follows a decision to lift the previous top pay band, which allowed advisers a maximum salary of £145,000.

A Cabinet Office spokesman insisted it was 'false to suggest that political appointees have made any decisions on their own pay bands or determining their own pay'.

The spokesman added: 'Any decision on special adviser pay is made by officials, not political appointees.'

But a former Tory government adviser described the claim as 'nonsense', adding: 'There are officials on the staff pay board, but in the end pay is decided by the chief of staff.

'Sue's decision to take a salary that is higher than the PM's just shows again that she has no political judgment.'

Ms Gray is reported to be locked in a bitter power struggle with Sir Keir's election guru Morgan McSweeney, and is even said to have twice had his desk moved further away from the PM's.

She also reportedly has a difficult relationship with Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, who is expected to leave government at the end of this year.

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Downing Street denied this week that there was a 'nest of vipers' behind the scenes in Sir Keir's administration.

No10 also defended Mr Case over reports that he is suspected of being the source of leaks against Ms Gray.

However, allies of No10's beleaguered chief of staff have begun a frantic search to uncover the source of the leaks against her. Sir Keir's decision to sign off her pay rise leaves him open to allegations of hypocrisy.

In 2021 he publicly criticised a decision to increase the pay of Mr Johnson's own controversial chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, to £140,000, contrasting it unfavourably with a modest pay rise for nurses.

The decision will also reopen questions about the PM's dependence on his top aide. Ms Gray raised eyebrows last week when she accompanied him to the White House, where she was pictured with Joe Biden, prompting some to describe her as 'the real deputy prime minister'.

She accompanied Sir Keir again on a trip to Rome for talks with Italian PM Giorgia Meloni.

One insider said: 'She wants to make sure the only voice he hears is hers'.

Sir Keir defended his chief of staff at the weekend, saying that 'most' of the stories about her were 'wildly wrong'.

A No10 spokeswoman said last night: 'We never comment on staff salaries.'

Details of Ms Gray's salary, along with that of other advisers, will eventually be published, but they could take months to come out.