Paul Gray has overseen thousands of job cuts and two strikes during his nine months at the helm of the tax authority.

Mr Gray, 59, a graduate of the London School of Economics, is married with two sons in their twenties. He was chairman of Revenue & Customs for nine months, after being promoted in February from the role of deputy.

He has survived dramatic times at HMRC, which announced that it was to cut 12,500 jobs after the Inland Revenue merged with HM Customs in 2005. Staff went on strike over job cuts at the end of January, throwing self-assessment deadlines into chaos.

Nevertheless, he was well liked, both at the Revenue and across the accountancy industry. One worker described him as “a really affable guy”. His pay in the year to April 2007 rose 6 per cent to between £165,000 and £170,000.

He was due to receive an annual pension income of between £90,000 and £95,000 on retirement, with a total pension pot of £1,786,000.

Mr Gray started his working life in the Treasury in 1969, but left the Civil Service briefly in the late 1970s to work as a corporate planner. He was private secretary on economic affairs to Margaret Thatcher from 1988 until she was ousted from No 10 in 1990.

Family, football and sheep are Mr Gray’s main interests outside work. His departure coincides with management troubles at Leicester City, the team of which he describes himself as a “long-suffering supporter”. He also has a flock of Wensleydale sheep.

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