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Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff received a pay rise after the election that means she is now paid more than the prime minister.
Sue Gray, who was awarded a salary of £170,000, had “no involvement in any decision on her pay”, a government spokesperson said.
The salary is £3,000 more than that of the prime minister and more than any cabinet minister or her Conservative predecessor.
Suggesting Ms Gray had asked for the higher salary, one source told the BBC: “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.” But a government spokesperson said the allegation is “categorically untrue”.
Ms Gray, who was hired as Sir Keir’s chief of staff in 2023, was tasked with helping Labour to prepare for being in power.
In an extraordinary story, the latest example of tensions flaring in Sir Keir’s Downing Street operation, senior Labour figures have condemned the party’s preparations for government, Ms Gray’s treatment of staff, and her outsized influence as chief of staff.
Speaking to The Independent, one Labour source said: “It’s certainly unfortunate timing that, while staff were worrying about their pay, or in many cases the future of their jobs, those at the top of the tower were hiking up their own salaries.
“Sue and others might do well to remember whose hard work got them into No 10 in the first place.”
It came after a series of Labour sources furiously briefed against Ms Gray to the BBC. One said: “It speaks to the dysfunctional way No 10 is being run – no political judgement, 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 said she has “the highest ever special-adviser salary in the history of special advisers”. And, attacking Ms Gray’s record as the person responsible for Labour’s preparations for government, one said: “If you ever see any evidence of our preparations for government, please let me know.”
A power struggle has been playing out between Ms Gray and Sir Keir’s election guru Morgan McSweeney since Labour’s general election win, with Ms Gray reported to have repeatedly moved Mr McSweeney’s desk further from the PM’s office in an effort to sideline him.
Sir Keir was recently forced to defend his chief of staff amid fears that she was appearing too often in the press for someone whose role would not typically place them in the spotlight.
Asked by reporters whether she was “becoming the story”, as has previously happened with top advisers including Dominic Cummings and Alastair Campbell, Sir Keir said: “I’m not going to talk behind her back and I’m not going to talk about individual members of staff, whether it’s Sue Gray or any other member of staff.
“All I can say about the stories is most of them are wildly wrong.”
The row about Ms Gray’s pay comes as Sir Keir is embroiled in a controversy of his own after accepting tens of thousands of pounds’ worth of gifts from a major Labour donor, including thousands of pounds’ worth of clothes for his wife.
Sir Keir, who has a salary of around £160,000, has faced criticism after it emerged that he was late to declare a donation by a Labour peer who paid for dresses for his wife Victoria.
Waheed Alli bought more than £5,000 worth of clothes for Lady Starmer. He has also given Sir Keir £18,685 worth of work clothes and several pairs of glasses.
It also emerged today that Lady Starmer accepted two free tickets worth hundreds of pounds each to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson told The Independent: “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.”
A government spokesperson added: “This allegation is categorically untrue. Sue Gray had no involvement in any decision on her pay. She was informed of her salary after this had been set.”
