Sue Gray blocked from taking new No10 job after demanding to be paid more per day than Keir Starmer
SUE Gray was blocked from taking a new No10 job as “regions envoy” after demanding to be paid more per day than the Prime Minister.
Civil servants were so alarmed by the wage she was asking for they were preparing to publicly declare her not value for money.
She asked for what would have amounted to a pay rise on her old chief-of-staff salary to the job, insiders said.
The Prime Minister earns £166,786 a year.
Earlier this week, it emerged Keir Starmer’s ex chief of staff had turned down the offer to be his new envoy to the nations and regions.
But the Sun on Sunday has been told the offer was being withdrawn by No10 because Ms Gray had demanded an eye-watering pay package.
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Ms Gray had earned £170,000 a year in her old chief of staff job.
She was insisting on a de facto pay rise to take on the new government post.
The envoy role is part time - so while she would be earning less than the PM annually she wanted more money per day worked.
A Westminster source said: “Sue was digging her feet in over money.”
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Another source said: “Sue spent her time in No10 trying to cut everyone else’s salary, but wanted more cash for herself.”
Ms Gray was demanding so much in pay that a senior Cabinet minister would have to sign it off.
The latest bitter row comes just a month after Ms Gray quit as No10 chief of staff after it emerged she earned more than the PM.
Since then, she has spent months in talks with Downing Street about whether or not to take on the new envoy role.
Ms Gray is expected to be given a seat in the House of Lords as a consolation prize.
The Sun on Sunday contacted Ms Gray’s representatives for comment.
The Labour Party declined to comment.
