Sir Chris Wormald has stood down as the UK’s top civil servant and head of the civil service after just 14 months in the role, the government has announced, as the prime minister seeks to conduct a reset of his ailing Downing Street operation.
Sir Chris’s departure – which the Cabinet Office said was by “mutual agreement” – comes just days after the resignations of Sir Keir’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and communications chief, Tim Allan.
The shake-up of Sir Keir’s top team is part of an attempt to draw a line under controversies surrounding the appointments of Lord Peter Mandelson and Lord Matthew Doyle despite their association with sex offenders.
But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the move has been done to “save his own skin”, accusing the prime minister of having thrown the outgoing cabinet secretary “under the bus”.
Sir Chris Wormald has stepped down as Cabinet secretary (PA)
It comes after Sir Keir survived the toughest day of his premiership so far this week, with figures across the political spectrum questioning his judgement and a growing number of Labour MPs calling for him to go.
The prime minister said he was “grateful” for Sir Chris’s “long and distinguished career of public service” and his “support” as Cabinet secretary.
Commenting on his departure – which came after days of speculation over his future – 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.”
Meanwhile, Sir Chris said it had 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”, he said.
The top civil servant had been due to lead the probe led into Lord Peter Mandelson’s contact with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while he was a government minister.
The prime minister will appoint a new Cabinet secretary “shortly”, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday.
Dame Antonia Romeo is widely expected to replace Sir Chris and become the first female head of the civil service (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Archive)
Home Office permanent secretary Dame Antonia Romeo, who is widely tipped to be in line for Sir Chris’s former job, Catherine Little and James Bowler will share the responsibilities of Cabinet secretary for an interim period.
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.
Rumours that the Labour leader intends to replace Sir Chris with Dame Antonia earlier this week triggered a highly unusual warning by a former top mandarin against “doing the due diligence too late” amid wider concerns about government vetting.
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”.
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.”
The government has promised to improve its vetting processes after the prime minister claimed Lord Mandelson lied about the depth of his association to Epstein during his vetting for the UK’s top diplomatic posting abroad.
Sir Chris becomes the third major casualty of Sir Keir’s top team this week following the resignations of Morgan McSweeney (pictured) and Tim Allan (Reuters)
Meanwhile, questions have been raised over the screening process for Matthew Doyle, who was recently handed a peerage despite him having previously campaigned for paedophile councillor Sean Morton in 2017 after he had been charged with having indecent images of children.
Ahead of Sir Chris’s resignation, Mrs Badenoch also said Sir Keir should delay the change in leadership at the Cabinet Office until the disclosure of the Mandelson files is complete.
“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”, the Tory leader said in a letter to the Civil Service Commission.
“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.”
