Starmer’s chief of staff is top paid special adviser

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff is the highest paid special adviser, government figures show.

Morgan McSweeney is paid between £155,000 and £159,999, the Cabinet Office said in a report.

Nine senior government staffers, known as spads, are in the next highest band and are paid between £145,000 and £149,999.

National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, No 10’s director of strategic communications James Lyons, and John Van Reenan, the chancellor’s top economic adviser, are among those in the second-highest pay bracket.

Last year, the BBC reported that Sir Keir’s former chief of staff, Sue Gray, had a higher salary than the £166,786 the prime minister had been earning.

Gray left her role, saying she “risked becoming a distraction”, and was replaced by McSweeney, who was previously chief adviser to the prime minister and masterminded Labour’s general election campaign.

The details of Gray’s salary were leaked to the BBC, as the former senior civil servant was embroiled in internal rows in the early months of the Labour government.

Some special advisers in the team were angry about being asked to take pay cuts.

Overall, the pay bill for spads in 2024/25 was £16.7m.

This included £3.1m in severance costs, partly covering outgoing advisers from the previous Conservative government.

As of 31 March this year, there were 130 special advisers working for the government.

Salaries over £76,000 are declared in bands of £5,000.

McSweeney was the only person in the £155,000 to £159,999 band.

Powell, a veteran diplomat, was appointed as a special adviser last year, breaking with convention to take up the national security adviser role, which is usually held by a civil servant.