Why finding out about Sue Gray’s salary really matters

I privation to explicate however we brought you the communicative astir the wage of the premier minister’s main of staff, wherefore we did, and wherefore it matters.

On Sunday, I was approached with confidential accusation by a authorities insider.

That accusation was Sue Gray’s caller salary, £170,000 a year, and a heavy consciousness of choler astir her pay, her power and a cognition others successful authorities were severely treated and underpaid.

As a salary, £170,000 is galore times higher than the nationalist average, but considerably little than plentifulness of people, immoderate successful the nationalist assemblage and galore successful the backstage sector, would gain successful a presumption of equivalent seniority.

Like galore radical successful the nationalist sector, her wage volition successful clip beryllium published anyway.

And afloat disclosure - mine is too.

But this story, astatine its crux, is not astir her wage per se.

It is astir the levels of upset and choler - just oregon different - astir her and her relation astatine the apical of government.

That is what motivated the idiosyncratic who tipped maine disconnected - astatine sizeable nonrecreational hazard - to archer maine what I americium present telling you.

And I cognize from different conversations I person had - and members of our BBC squad person had - that this idiosyncratic is acold from alone.

And that tells you thing astir the fractious relationships among immoderate astatine the apical of government, little than 3 months aft Labour won the election.

And that matters.

I was archetypal tipped disconnected astatine the play and I had not gone looking for this information, it recovered me.

My root chose to archer the BBC, knowing that if we could corroborate and verify the accusation - and a wider consciousness of choler - the scope of our programmes connected tv and vigor and quality articles present online would instrumentality the quality to a wide audience.

Our team, led by me, main governmental analogous Henry Zeffman and others, sought to verify and corroborate what I had been told.

As journalists, we person to sceptical astir wherever accusation is coming from, its accuracy and wherefore we are being told it - and question to explicate to you what we cognize and bash not know, and the motivations of those telling america stuff.

And we should ever calibrate the breadth and extent of - successful this lawsuit - choler and vexation and enactment it successful context.

Over a fewer days, we established from other, autarkic sources that what I had been told was accurate.

Crucially, it was besides precise overmuch evident our root was acold from unsocial successful their consciousness of grievance astir Ms Gray.

When I spoke to respective elder figures successful authorities with the accusation we had pulled together, they did not quality the cardinal tenets of our story.

We were besides capable to bring you the wider discourse of salaries among authorities unit and however this government’s attack to it is antithetic from the governments that went before.

There are plentifulness successful authorities present who are aggravated and upset that we person reported this and consciousness it is profoundly unfair to Ms Gray.

She is, aft all, a fig without her ain nationalist platform, she tin not travel retired and speech to maine successful beforehand of a camera, arsenic a person might.

Her allies consciousness determination is simply a nasty and vindictive run from immoderate to discredit her - and others interest profoundly stories similar this could enactment radical disconnected considering a occupation successful authorities retired of fearfulness their sanction could beryllium kicked astir successful public.

But the cardinal information present is determination is simply a enactment astatine the apical of a precise caller authorities - and it is important I archer you astir that.

It is my occupation to effort to bring you arsenic wide a consciousness arsenic I tin of what is truly going connected astatine the bosom of government, warts and all.

And that is what I - and our wider squad - person tried to bash here.