Tories say Starmer is throwing top civil servant ‘under a bus’ with expected dismissal

Kemi Badenoch has said Sir Keir Starmer is throwing his Cabinet Secretary “under a bus” with his expected dismissal, amid a row over who could take up the job.

Sir Chris Wormald is believed to be on his way out as head of the civil service as the Prime Minister seeks to reset his Downing Street operation after controversies surrounding the appointments of Lord Peter Mandelson and Lord Matthew Doyle despite their association with sex offenders.

Downing Street declined to “comment on speculation” when asked to confirm whether he remained in place on Thursday.

It comes after the departures of Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and communications chief Tim Allan.

Rumours that the Labour leader intends to replace Sir Chris with Dame Antonia Romeo, the Home Office permanent secretary, triggered a highly unusual warning by a former top mandarin against “doing the due diligence too late”.

Dame Antonia’s former boss Lord Simon McDonald, ex-permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, said there should be a “full process” to appoint a new Cabinet Secretary and that “needs to start from scratch”.

Tory leader Mrs Badenoch seized on Lord McDonald’s intervention as she criticised the Prime Minister’s expected move.

In a letter to the Civil Service Commission, she said: “It is hard to escape the conclusion that the Cabinet Secretary is simply the latest person to be thrown under a bus by this Prime Minister.

“It is all the more concerning to be changing Cabinet Secretary in the midst of the ongoing scandal over the appointment of Lord Mandelson and his conduct in office.”

Mrs Badenoch urged to commission to advise Sir Keir to delay the sacking until the disclosure of Government files relating to Lord Mandelson – overseen by the Cabinet Secretary – is complete.

The probe led by the top civil servant into the former UK ambassador to Washington’s contact with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while he was a government minister should also be concluded first, she said.

Mrs Badenoch wrote: “Changing the Cabinet Secretary in the middle of this scandal – or more precisely forcing out the incumbent without any clear process – would be an extraordinary thing to do.

“Any individual appointed in the circumstances, without a full process to point to and in midst of managing a scandal, could find it difficult to demonstrate impartiality.”

She said Sir Keir must also “be advised to conduct a full new process for this appointment, given the circumstances around the likely departure of Sir Chris and given the concerns raised by the former Foreign Office mandarin, Lord McDonald”.

Lord McDonald told Channel 4 News on Wednesday evening: “This is the most important job in the civil service. It can’t be chosen on the fly.”

He added: “If the Prime Minister wants a new Cabinet Secretary, he needs to start from scratch.

“Due diligence is vitally important.

“The Prime Minister has recent bitter experience of doing the due diligence too late.

“It would be an unnecessary tragedy to repeat that mistake.”

He said he would prefer to go into detail about this with No 10, and that he had “been in touch today and not had a response”.

Dame Antonia was reportedly investigated when she was Britain’s consul general in New York in 2017 over her expenses and claims of bullying, but was later cleared by the Cabinet Office.

A Government source said there was “absolutely no basis for this criticism”.

They said: ⁠”Antonia Romeo is a highly respected permanent secretary with a 25-year record of excellent public service.

A second Government source went further, saying: “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.

“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.”

No 10 would not say whether Sir Chris remained in his job, and whether the search for his replacement would involve a full vetting process and interviews.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters: “I’m not going to comment on speculation.

“In terms of process more generally, there is a process, as you know, for appointing cabinet secretaries. It’s overseen by an independent Civil Service Commission, and that’s well established.”

Sir Chris’s expected departure would come just 14 months after he was named the UK’s top civil servant and the Prime Minister’s most senior policy adviser.

As a career civil servant, Sir Chris’s appointment raised eyebrows at a time when Sir Keir was pushing a desire to rewire the British state.