A livid disagreement has erupted inside 10 Downing Avenue after it emerged that Keir Starmer’s chief of workers earns greater than he does.
The BBC reported that Sue Grey’s wage was elevated to £170,000 after the final election. The prime minister receives round £167,000.
A number of unnamed authorities particular advisers – who’re recognized in Westminster as SpAds – had been quoted attacking Grey, who has been accused of turning down their pleas for larger wages.
One mentioned: “It’s weird. I’m working more durable than ever in a extra vital job and so they need to pay me lower than the Labour Occasion was paying me when it was broke.”
One other described Grey’s pay bundle as “the best ever particular adviser wage within the historical past of particular advisers”.
The assaults on Grey sparked an offended backlash from her allies in Downing Avenue.
One authorities supply informed HuffPost UK: “Any questions folks have must be directed on the course of and never a person.”
One other supply insisted it was “categorically unfaithful” that Grey was warned that her pay rise would put her on the next wage than the PM however went forward with it anyway.
The supply mentioned: “Sue Grey had no involvement in any choice on her pay. She was knowledgeable of her wage after this had been set.”
A Cupboard Workplace spokesman informed the BBC: “It’s false to recommend that political appointees have made any selections on their very own pay bands or figuring out their very own pay.
“Any choice on particular adviser pay is made by officers not political appointees. As set out publicly, particular advisers can’t authorise expenditure of public funds or have accountability for budgets.”
Nonetheless, HuffPost UK has additionally discovered that Grey sits on the “Particular Adviser Folks Board”, which decides SpAd pay, alongside senior civil servants Darren Tierney, Fiona Ryland and Simon Madden.
The most recent briefings towards Grey come amid well-documented tensions between her and Morgan McSweeney, No.10′s head of political technique.
She first rose to nationwide prominence whereas she was nonetheless a senior civil servants and performed the federal government investigation into the partygate scandal.
Her damning report into lockdown-breaking events inside 10 Downing Avenue was one of many contributory elements which finally led to Boris Johnson’s resignation as prime minister in 2022.
