Chief of staff has a higher salary than prime minister

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 asked for and was given a salary of £170,000, which is £3,000 more than the PM and more than any cabinet minister – or her Conservative predecessor, it has emerged.

- MILLIE COOKE AND ARCHIE MITCHELL

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.”

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.”