Keir Starmer has yet another controversy on his hands today following a leak that Sue Gray, his top aide, has been granted a historic salary outsizing the Prime Minister’s own.
According to the BBC, Gray was awarded a salary of £170,000 a year, £3,000 more than Starmer, after requesting a major pay rise following the election. The staggering figure prompted swift condemnation from the Conservatives, who are demanding to know whether the PM personally signed off on what they consider an exorbitant and unjustifiable remuneration.
Insiders reportedly expressed preemptive concerns with the pay rise: “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.”
Other disgruntled insiders called the pay rise, “the highest ever special adviser salary in the history of special advisers”, and privately rebuked Gray, claiming that she “considers herself to be the Deputy Prime Minister”. One Labour staffer told the FT that while Gray and her top cadres receive unprecedented pay rises, other advisers have been “low balled”, offered mere pittances in comparison.
Sue Gray really ought to be the last of the Labour legion to push the boundaries of what is acceptable for public servants as she served for years as head of the civil service’s propriety and ethics team. It was from this honourable role that Gray famously led the cavalry against Boris Johnson for his staff parties.
Gray’s staff don’t appear keen to party with, or even stand behind, their boss however, as various leaks from insiders indicate a growing antipathy towards the top aide. The troubling reports were widespread enough to prompt Starmer to declare that all such stories were “wildly wrong” earlier this week.
The “ethics-champion” Ms Gray’s salary controversy follows a number of recent “sleaze” scandals of late involving Labour’s top brass. The week opened with the revelation that Sir Keir and his wife Victoria have accepted tens of thousands in lucrative gifts, including designer dresses and even spectacles, from Lord Alli without proper registration.
Last month, Starmer faced accusations of cronyism for boosting donors into high-ranking civil service gigs and for providing an exclusive Downing Street pass to his billionaire backer, and apparent wardrobe guru, Lord Alli.
Sue Gray once wrote in her Boris report that “the public have a right to expect the very highest standards of behaviour” from Downing Street. Perhaps the British public should’ve expected the highest ever public servant salaries instead.
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