I’m in control, says Keir Starmer after Sue Gray pay leaks

On Wednesday, the BBC revealed it had been told that Ms Gray asked for and was given a salary of £170,000 after July’s election – about £3,000 more than the PM and more than her Conservative predecessor, Rishi Sunak’s chief of staff.

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 others in government have spoken passionately in Ms Gray’s defence, and believe there is a misplaced, grossly unfair and deeply personal campaign against her.

Her salary has proved particularly controversial partly because other advisers believe they are being underpaid.

Most were expecting pay rises when they entered government, only to discover they would be paid less.

Many of the disappointed advisers blame Ms Gray specifically – although others insist pay is a matter for civil servants.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds dismissed suggestions the prime minister had personally intervened to increase Ms Gray’s salary, saying ministers had “no input” in what their advisers were paid.

“There’s a process that exists, it’s a civil service process, it hasn’t changed. It’s wrong to say there’s any kind of political input in there or people set their own pay bands.

“I don’t even get to set the pay for my own advisers… I think there are and always have been officials who are paid more than politicians in our system and that hasn’t changed,” he told BBC Breakfast.

Mr Reynolds acknowledged that leaks about issues in government such as Ms Gray’s pay were “annoying” and “a permanent frustration”.