“I am in control,” says Keir Starmer after Sue Gray’s salary leaks

On Wednesday, the BBC announced that Ms Gray had received a pay rise to £170,000 a year following the election – around £3,000 more than the Prime Minister’s salary.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds dismissed suggestions that the Prime Minister had personally intervened to increase Ms Gray’s salary, saying ministers had “no influence” over the pay of their advisers.

“There is an existing process, it is a public service process, it has not changed. It is wrong to say that there is any kind of political influence here or that people set their own pay scales.”

“I can’t even set the salaries of my own advisers… I think there have always been and will always be civil servants in our system who are better paid than politicians and that hasn’t changed,” he told BBC Breakfast.

Mr Reynolds acknowledged that leaked information about government matters such as Ms Gray’s pay was “infuriating” and “a constant frustration”.

Mr Reynolds also told Sky News that Ms Gray was “getting on with the work of this government and delivering on our promises. I think that is more important than anything else for anyone who works in Downing Street.”