Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff earns more money than he does after she was given an eye-watering salary of £170,000 to join his top team.
Sue Gray, whose report while a senior civil servant into parties in Downing Street during the pandemic contributed to the downfall of Boris Johnson, was appointed by the Labour Party ahead of the general election in a move that sparked some controversy.
It has now been revealed that she was offered a salary of £170,000 to do so, which is £3,000 more than her boss, the prime minister, earns.
BBC sources say she was offered slightly less to avoid the story coming out, but declined the offer.
Her Conservative predecessor Liam, now Lord, Booth Smith, who did the job under Rishi Sunak, was paid at the upper end of the highest pay band for special advisers, between £140,000 and £145,000 a year, external.
The boost in Ms Gray’s pay comes after the prime minister signed off a rebanding of the salaries for special advisers shortly after taking office.
The government says the rebanding was done by officials, not by Ms Gray herself, and her salary is not at the top of the new highest band for special advisers.
According to Gabriel Pogrund, one senior Labour source quipped that Ms Gray is “the only pensioner better off under Labour” after it cut fuel allowances for millions of other pensioners.
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