PM’s chief of staff received rise after election while other political special advisers faced pay cuts
Sue Gray’s salary is higher than any other special adviser, according to published data. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy
Sue Gray, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, has been given a salary of £170,000 – more than the prime minister.
Gray was given a pay rise after the election despite other political special advisers being unhappy about their pay being cut compared with their previous jobs at the Labour party.
The BBC first reported that Gray was paid £3,000 more than Starmer’s salary of £166,786.
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.”
Government sources, however, disputed that. One said: “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.”
Gray’s salary is higher than any other special adviser, according to published data. Her predecessor in the chief of staff job for Rishi Sunak, Liam Booth-Smith, was paid £140,000-145,000 a year.
Gray took a job with Starmer after working in the civil service at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, where her salary band was £150,000-155,000. The prime minister signed off a rebanding of the salaries for special advisers shortly after taking office. Banding for special advisers was revised by officials, and the individual amounts of pay were approved by the prime minister.
However, the BBC reported that a Whitehall committee of civil servants responsible for special adviser pay and terms had also been attended by Gray, and No 10’s director of political strategy, Morgan McSweeney.
The government had no comment on individual pay, but a Cabinet Office spokesperson 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.”
