That Starmer fella...

The story is not about the PM's salary. It is about widespread fury at an over-powerful advisor. These quotes from the BBC news article are spicy:

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.”

and

“It speaks to the dysfunctional way No10 is being run - no political judgement, an increasingly grand Sue who considers herself to be the Deputy Prime Minister, hence the salary and no other voice for the Prime Minister to hear as everything gets run through Sue,” one insider told the BBC.

and

One angry government insider branded Ms Gray's pay “the highest ever special adviser salary in the history of special advisers”.

and

When Ms Gray was hired as Starmer’s chief of staff in 2023 she was tasked with working on Labour’s preparations for government. Special advisers see the row over their salaries as a sign that the work was not carried out in enough detail. “If you ever see any evidence of our preparations for government, please let me know,” one adviser said.

The number ten political operation and wider group of spads don't usually collapse into civil war and disarray this quickly.