Jonathan Reynolds, business secretary, suggests Starmer himself did not decide pay for his chief of staffAs mentioned earlier, Chris Mason, who as the BBC’s political editor does one of the hardest jobs in journalism, has written a blog about how and why he and colleagues ending up breaking the story about Sue Gray’s salary. He says he was first told the information by a government insider on Sunday – “I had not gone looking for this information, it found me” – and that over the next two days they were able to verify and corroborate what he had been told. On why it matters, he says:This story, at its crux, is not about [Gray’s] salary per se.It is about the levels of upset and anger – fair or otherwise – about her and her role at the top of government.There’s always going to be the case where people in public life are invited to certain events. I can tell you having been a secretary of state for two months, pretty much every working hour of it is spent working. And if people get the chance for a little bit of relaxation as part of that, again, I’ve no problem or objection to that.It’s not a perk of the job, it’s part of the job. People want to engage with decision makers. They want to ask you to be aware of what they are doing. Again, I think we have the right rules on transparency in relation to that. But this is about the job that we do and the need to be engaged with the sectors that we cover.I think these are major cultural, sporting events. I think it’s important people in public life have some connection to that, that they are aware of that. Of course, going to see Taylor Swift – I’ve never seen her myself, but I hear it’s a very significant and lovely experience to do so.But, again, as long as those things are declared openly, transparently, in accordance with the rules, there’s no objection on my part to that. Continue reading…
Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/sep/19/keir-starmer-sue-gray-labour-conservatives-uk-politics-latest-news
Author : Andrew Sparrow
Publish date : 2024-09-19 09:14:41
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