Starmer to force through preferred Cabinet Secretary despite warnings

Sir Keir Starmer is facing a Civil Service revolt over the ousting of his Cabinet Secretary after just over a year in the job.  

The Prime Minister will replace Sir Chris Wormald with Dame Antonia Romeo despite previous allegations of bullying and misuse of expenses made against her.

Government officials reportedly refused to sign off on Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to sack Sir Chris as Britain’s most senior civil servant because it would cost taxpayers £260,000.

Downing Street announced on Thursday that Sir Chris had agreed to step down as part of a wholesale shake-up of No 10, which has already seen the departures of Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and his communications chief Tim Allan.

Sir Chris, who is Britain’s shortest-serving Cabinet Secretary, was the subject of repeated negative briefings in recent months. Critics described him as the “embodiment of Whitehall groupthink”.

Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA union which represents civil servants, said Sir Chris had “barely started in the cabinet secretary role before the anonymous briefings started to scapegoat him and undermine his authority.

He posted on X: “Undermining senior officials has had a chilling effect throughout the Civil sService, from the leadership group down.” 

Whitehall figures have accused Sir Keir of scapegoating Sir Chris for his own failings.

One told The Times: “How many sacrifices must be made to remove a stain on the PM’s character?”

Another said: “The reaction across the Civil Service has been awful. Not because they all loved Sir Chris, but because they wander what happened to [the Starmer] who claimed to be a man who believed in public service and integrity.”

Civil servants told Sir Keir ministers would have to formally direct officials to make the redundancy payment to Sir Chris as there were no compelling reasons why he should be sacked, it was reported.

The revolt follows an unusual public intervention by Dame Antonia’s former boss Lord Simon McDonald, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, who warned that appointing her to the most senior post in the Civil Service would be a mistake.

In a television interview, he suggested that a previous internal investigation into claims that Dame Antonia was guilty of bullying and misusing taxpayer money had not been duly comprehensive.

The investigation cleared Dame Antonia, but Lord McDonald said “due diligence has some way still to go”. He added there needed to be a “full process” to appoint a new cabinet secretary and said the process should start “from scratch”.

Dame Antonia’s allies disputed Lord McDonald’s comments, accusing him of having a vendetta against her.

One senior Civil Service source described the intervention as having “a whiff of misogyny about it”.

The source added: “Being dynamic and having a personality should, frankly, be desirable attributes in a Cabinet Secretary.

“If we are genuinely serious about energising the Civil Service, renewing the state and delivering for the country, there is simply no one better placed than Antonia.”

‘We could use more chutzpah in the blob’

A Cabinet Office source said: “This is a desperate attempt from a senior male official whose time has passed but spent their career getting Britain into the mess it finds itself in today.

“Antonia is a disrupter. She is one of the few senior officials that has always fought against the ‘computer says no’ culture embedded in the British state.”

One government minister told The Telegraph: “I’m tired of hearing women being called ‘ambitious’ by bald men past their prime. Frankly, we could use a bit more chutzpah in ‘the blob’.”

Kemi Badneoch, the leader of the Tory party, tweeted: “The Cabinet Secretary is the latest person Keir Starmer has thrown under the bus to save his own skin.”

Sir Keir passed over Dame Antonia last year in favour of Sir Chris, despite concerns he was too much of an establishment figure to force change.

Dame Antonia, the permanent secretary of the Home Office, was on a shortlist of four candidates alongside Sir Chris for the Cabinet Secretary position during the application process.

Speaking after his departure, Sir Chris said: “It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as a civil servant for the past 35 years, and a particular distinction to lead the service as Cabinet Secretary.

“I want to place on record my sincere thanks to the extraordinary civil servants, public servants, ministers, and advisers I have worked with. Our country is fortunate to have such dedicated individuals devoted to public service, and I wish them every success for the future.”

S’s contract entitled him to one month’s pay for every year worked in the Civil Service before being dismissed, The Times reported.

He is eligible for the maximum of just over £260,000 because he joined in 1991.

Payments of more than £95,000 have to be authorised by the Treasury under value-for-money rules.

It was suggested Sir Chris’s departure had been delayed by wrangling between No 10 and the Treasury over who would authorise the payoff.

The Prime Minister said: “I am very grateful to Sir Chris for his long and distinguished career of public service, spanning more than 35 years, and for the support that he has given me over the past year.

“I have agreed with him that he will step down as Cabinet Secretary today. I wish him the very best for the future.”

It is understood the Prime Minister wants a speedy appointment and is seeking approval for the process from Baroness Stuart, the Civil Service commissioner.

Until a successor is announced, the job will be shared by three permanent secretaries: Dame Antonia, Catherine Little from the Cabinet Office and James Bowler from the Treasury.

In 2017, when Dame Antonia was Britain’s consul general in New York, she faced a bullying claim and questions over alleged lavish spending of taxpayers’ money. The claim was dismissed.

Lord McDonald indicated to Channel 4 on Wednesday night that the allegations had not been fully investigated and told No 10 to contact him over the issue.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: ⁠“Antonia Romeo is a highly respected permanent secretary with a 25-year record of excellent public service.

“The allegations all come from a single grievance made some time ago by a former employee. All the allegations were dismissed on the basis there was no case to answer.”

Lord McDonald declined to elaborate on his claims when The Telegraph approached him.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]