Wes Streeting has joked that embattled Sue Gray was behind the assassination of JFK amid fury among Labour advisers over her pay.
The Health Secretary also quipped that Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff had been hiding Lord Lucan.
Addressing the Labour Together party in Liverpool, Mr Streeting said: “For all these years Sue Gray has been hiding Lord Lucan, she’s shot JFK and I can’t even tell you what she did to Shergar.”
He also came to Ms Gray’s defence over her £170,000 salary. Labour aides are furiously briefing against Ms Gray, criticising the fact that feel their own pay is being restricted.
He said: “I want to welcome the BBC’s conviction that no one should be paid more than the Prime Minister, that no one should receive hospitality, and that we should judge performance on social media mentions — be careful what we wish for, comrades”
A Tory source said: “Mr Streeting is now a senior member of the government he needs to leave behind student union conspiracy theories.
“It’s no wonder Labour have been forced to bring in so many advisors into the department for health with someone so immature and out of depth.”
