Sir Keir Starmer was accused of throwing yet another senior figure ‘under the bus’ to save himself today as he confirmed he had sacked the head of the Civil Service.
The Prime Minister tonight confirmed Sir Chris Wormald has stood down as Cabinet Secretary ‘by mutual agreement’, following days of speculation that he was going to be removed after just 14 months in the role.
He is the latest person to be eased out of Downing Street in the aftermath of the Peter Mandelson scandal, following chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and comms director Tim Allen.
But, amid a major Whitehall row over Sir Chris’s successor, he is to be replaced on an interim basis in the £220,000 post by not one but three senior mandarins.
Dame Antonia Romeo, the permanent secretary at the Home Office who had been widely tipped to take over, will share the responsibilities of Cabinet Secretary with Catherine Little, the top official at the Cabinet Office, and James Bowler, the top official at the Treasury, for an interim period.
It came amid an astonishing row over Dame Antonia’s potential appointment as Sir Chris’s permanent successor that saw former top diplomat Lord McDonald of Salford take the highly unusual step of publicly warning No 10 against the move.
The peer insisted Dame Antonia must not be parachuted into the post of Cabinet Secretary without a fresh vetting process, given she was investigated for bullying when she was HM Consul General in New York a decade ago. A probe found no wrongdoing.
In a short statement on Thursday evening, the PM said he was ‘grateful’ for Sir Chris’s ‘long and distinguished career of public service’ and his ‘support’ as Cabinet Secretary.
The Cabinet Office tonight said Sir Chris Wormald has stood down as Cabinet Secretary ‘by mutual agreement’
Dame Antonia Romero is the front-runner to replace Chris Wormald as Cabinet Secretary
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged not to rush through the appointment of Dame Antonia
Lord McDonald, who was permanent secretary at the Foreign Office for five years until 2020, told Channel 4 News: ‘This is the most important job in the civil service. It can’t be chosen on the fly’
Sir Keir added: ‘I have agreed with him that he will step down as Cabinet Secretary today. I wish him the very best for the future.’
But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Chris ‘is the latest person Keir Starmer has thrown under the bus to save his own skin’, amid a furious row over the appointment of Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US.
And, in his own remarks released by the Government, Sir Chris did not thank the PM by name.
He is now in line for a £250,000 payoff and a note in history as one of the shortest-serving Cabinet Secretaries.
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.’
Bizarrely, Downing Street refused to say this morning who the Cabinet Secretary was, although the PM’s spokesman insisted there still was one at the time.
It is understood that the decision to give the job to three people on an interim basis was made before Lord McDonald’s intervention last night, and follows a precedent set when Sir Chris’s predecessor Simon Case was seriously ill.
Crossbench peer Lord McDonald, who was permanent secretary at the Foreign Office for five years until 2020, told Channel 4 News: ‘This is the most important job in the civil service. It can’t be chosen on the fly.’
In a reference to Lord Mandelson being appointed US ambassador in spite of his links to Jeffrey Epstein, the crossbench peer said: ‘The Prime Minister has recent bitter experience of doing the due diligence too late. It would be an unnecessary tragedy to repeat that mistake.’
A Government source said: ‘There is absolutely no basis for this criticism.
‘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.’
Another Government source told The Times: ‘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.
‘A computer says no culture, that cannot challenge the status quo.
‘Antonia is a disrupter. She isn’t settled with the status quo. She is one of the few senior officials that has always fought against the computer says no culture embedded in the British state.
‘In light of the crisis we face as a country, Antonia is exactly the leadership the civil service need to embrace systemic reform to rewire the state, take on vested interest and deliver for the British people.’
Appointing Sir Chris to the £220,000-a-year job in December 2024, Sir Keir lavished praise on him as ‘exceptional’ and the right option to ‘drive’ change.
‘There could be no-one better placed to drive forward our Plan For Change than Chris, and I look forward to working with him as we fulfil the mandate of this new government, improving the lives of working people and strengthening our country with a decade of national renewal,’ the premier said.
Sir Chris was drafted in to replace Simon Case – now Lord Case – who received a £200,000 severance deal.
However, there have been persistent rumours of tensions, with briefings apparently from No 10 suggesting the top mandarin has been holding up reforms.
Sir Chris has also been accused by Gordon Brown of failing to run an adequate probe into the New Labour architect’s correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein.
