Chris Wormald quits: Cabinet secretary steps down as Starmer loses another member of No 10 team

As the Prime Minister seeks to reset the troubling Downing Street operation, the government has announced the departure of Sir Chris Wormald after just 14 months as the UK’s most senior civil servant and head of the civil service.

Sir Chris’ departure, which the Cabinet Office said was by “mutual agreement”, comes just days after the resignations of Sir Keir’s private secretary Morgan McSweeney and communications chief Tim Allan.

The change in Sir Keir’s senior team is part of an attempt to draw a line under controversy over the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson and Lord Matthew Doyle, despite their dealings with sex offenders.

However, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch accused the Prime Minister of throwing the outgoing Cabinet secretary “under the bus” and said the move was made to “save his own life”.

It comes after Sir Keir weathered the toughest day of his premiership so far this week; Figures across the political spectrum are questioning his decision and a growing number of Labor MPs are calling for him to leave.

The Prime Minister said he was “grateful” for Sir Chris’ “long and distinguished career of public service” and his “support” as Cabinet secretary.

Commenting on his departure, which comes after days of speculation about his future, Sir Keir added: “I agree with him about leaving his role as Cabinet secretary today. I wish him all the best for the future.”

Meanwhile, Sir Chris said it had been “an honor and privilege to serve as a civil servant for the last 35 years and a special privilege to lead that service as Cabinet secretary”.

“I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to the extraordinary civil servants, public servants, ministers and advisors with whom I have worked.

“Our country is very lucky to have individuals who are so dedicated to public service, I wish them success in their future lives,” he said.

The senior civil servant was to lead the investigation into Lord Peter Mandelson’s contact with pedophile 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.

Home Office permanent secretary Dame Antonia Romeo, Catherine Little and James Bowler, who are widely rumored to be suitable for Sir Chris’ former role, will share the responsibilities of the Cabinet secretariat on an interim basis.

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

Rumors earlier this week that the Labor leader was planning to replace Sir Chris with Dame Antonia triggered a highly unusual warning from a former senior official against “due diligence being done too late” due to wider concerns about the government’s investigation.

Lord Simon McDonald, Dame Antonia’s former boss and former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, said there should be a “full process” for the appointment of a new Cabinet secretary and that it “must start from scratch”.

Lord McDonald told Channel 4 News on Wednesday evening: “This is the most important job in the public service. It cannot be chosen in a vacuum.”

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

“Due diligence is vital. The Prime Minister has recently had a bitter experience of doing due diligence too late.

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

The government has vowed to improve vetting processes after the Prime Minister claimed Lord Mandelson lied about the depth of his relationship with Epstein during his review for Britain’s top diplomatic post abroad.

Meanwhile, questions have been raised about the screening process for Matthew Doyle, who was previously accused of possessing indecent images of children in 2017 and was recently granted the right to campaign for pedophile councilor Sean Morton.

Ahead of Sir Chris’s resignation, Ms Badenoch also said Sir Keir should delay a change of leadership at the Cabinet Office until the disclosure of the Mandelson files was completed.

“It is hard to escape the conclusion that the cabinet secretary is the latest person to be thrown under the bus by this prime minister,” the Conservative Party leader said in a letter to the Civil Service Commission.

“The replacement of the Cabinet secretary amid the ongoing scandal surrounding Lord Mandelson’s appointment and behavior in office is even more worrying.”