Under-fire Sue Gray should be ‘underestimated at your peril,’ Angela Rayner has warned

The Deputy Prime Minister hailed her boss’ Chief of Staff (seen over summer) as ‘formidable’ and a ‘working-class kid that’s worked her way up through the ranks’

It was revealed last week that Ms Gray is paid £170,000 – meaning she earns more than Sir Keir Starmer, who is on £166,000

‘And we’ve got the most working-class Cabinet ever as well. And we roll our sleeves up, and we know why we’re doing it. We get it.

‘I’ve met a few entitled men in my time, but I would say to anyone who does that to Sue Gray – underestimate her at your peril.’

Allies of Ms Gray, who led the Partygate investigation, have launched a fightback after days of toxic briefing against her, insisting she commands strong support from across No 10.

Yesterday Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘Sue Gray knows Whitehall inside out, and I know I can pick up the phone to her and she’ll get things done.’

Earlier in the week, speaking at a conference event, Mr Streeting mocked the BBC for revealing Ms Gray is paid more than the PM.

He said: ‘I want to welcome the BBC’s conviction that no one should be paid more than the PM, that no one should receive hospitality, and that we should judge performance on social media mentions. Be careful what we wish for, comrades.’

An astonishing briefing to the broadcaster also accused Ms Gray of acting ‘increasingly grand’ and acting as the only conduit for access to the PM.

‘[She] 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,’ they told the broadcaster.

Another added: ‘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.’

Sir Keir attempted to defend Ms Gray at the weekend by saying that ‘most’ of the stories about her are ‘wildly wrong’ following reports of rifts in No10.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘It is false to suggest that political appointees have made any decisions on their own pay bands or determining their own pay.

‘Any decision on special adviser pay is made by officials not political appointees. As set out publicly, special advisers cannot authorise expenditure of public funds or have responsibility for budgets.’

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Keir Starmer refuses FOUR TIMES to say sorry for winter fuel axe in bruising interview as he faces defeat by unions in showdown vote at Labour conference TODAY

Keir Starmer has refused four times to apologise for stripping winter fuel payments from pensioners – as he faces defeat in a Labour conference vote today.

The PM was repeatedly challenged to say sorry to vulnerable old people who were losing out on up to £300, but blamed the Tories for ‘putting him in this position’.

The defiant stance came in a bruising clash with Susanna Reid on ITV‘s Good Morning Morning Britain before he headed for a UN summit in New York.

Sir Keir will not be present for a debate on the controversial policy at the conference in Liverpool later, with unions vowing to give the leadership a bloody nose.

Although losing a vote would only be symbolic, it would underline the scale of anger at the government on the issue.

Asked how he could justify the cut, Sir Keir said: ‘Well, it’s tough and I think the first thing to say and to explain is why we had to do it.

‘We inherited a really damaged economy, we did an audit and we discovered an undisclosed £22billion black hole this year, which we have to fix.’

Keir Starmer has refused four times to apologise for stripping winter fuel payments from pensioners – as he faces defeat in a Labour conference vote today

The defiant stance came in a bruising clash with Susanna Reid on ITV ‘s Good Morning Morning Britain before he headed for a UN summit in New York

The Unite union staged a protest at Labour conference today ahead of a vote on the issue

Pressed if he wanted to apologise to pensioners, Sir Keir said: ‘Well, I am really concerned that we’ve been put in this position.

‘When you inherit an economy with £22 billion missing, it is a really difficult set of choices.

‘But what I don’t want to do is to allow the economy to run out of control. What I want to make sure is that every single pensioner, there is that increase through the triple lock each and every year…’

Told again that he had an opportunity to say sorry, the PM said: ‘The people who should be saying sorry are the last government who left a hole of £22billion, and they should be sorry for that and they should apologise for that.’

Reid persisted ‘so you’re not going to apologise?’

Sir Keir said: ‘I’ve come in to fix the mess, fix the problems, and that’s tough, really tough decisions.

‘The cost of not doing it is to run the risk that we lose control of the economy again.

‘I’m not going to do that because if I do, you will be saying to me in two or three years’ time, if we lose control of the economy, will you now say sorry for having lost control of the economy?’

Unite and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have put forward the winter fuel motion at Labour conference.

Pressed if he wanted to apologise to pensioners, Sir Keir said: ‘Well, I am really concerned that we’ve been put in this position.’

It was originally set to be debated on Monday – but was rescheduled for after Sir Keir had given his big speech and departed amid rumours of backroom manoeuvring.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has described the policy as ‘cruel’ and called on the PM to admit he made a ‘misstep’.

CWU officials will not be at Labour’s conference today as they are attending the funeral in Scotland of the union’s former assistant general secretary Andy Kerr, who used to be on Labour’s national executive.

The motion calls for means testing of the winter fuel allowance to be reversed and for an end to fiscal rules which prevent borrowing to invest, as well as the introduction of a wealth tax.