Antonia Romeo: Starmer defends cabinet secretary frontrunner amid questions over her management style
Sir Keir Starmer has defended Dame Antonia Romeo as an “exceptional leader” amid growing expectations that she will be chosen as cabinet secretary to replace Sir Chris Wormald.
Dame Antonia previously faced bullying allegations while serving as consul general in New York but was later cleared by the Cabinet Office following an investigation.
Asked about reports that the senior civil servant had been interviewed about her management style following the inquiry, the prime minister’s official spokesman insisted Dame Antonia’s record “speaks for itself”.
“A formal complaint was made nine years ago and the allegations were dismissed on the grounds that there was no case to answer,” they said.
“Antonia Romeo is an outstanding leader with a 25-year record of excellent public service, including appointments to three permanent secretary roles,” he said.
When asked again, No. 10 said he would “never go into documents related to confidential HR processes.”
The spokesman said: “Antonia Romeo’s record speaks for itself… I will not go into individual HR files or reports.”
A source told the BBC that Dame Antonia faced “tough talk” about her leadership style following the investigation, adding that “there were some issues with personal style that people didn’t like”.
It comes after Dame Antonia’s former boss, Lord Simon McDonald, a former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, said last week he had doubts about a possible decision to appoint her.
he said Channel 4 News: “Due diligence needs to be comprehensive. If he is the candidate mentioned in the media, in my opinion, due diligence still has a long way to go.”
He said there should be a “full process” for the appointment of a new cabinet secretary that “must start from scratch”.
“This is the most important job in the public service… It cannot be chosen in a vacuum. Due diligence is vital.”
Government sources dismissed Lord McDonald’s claims, saying there was “absolutely no basis for this criticism” and described him as “an outdated senior male official”.
Dame Antonia is one of three civil servants to serve as cabinet secretaries following Sir Chris’ departure. The other two are Cabinet Office permanent secretary Cat Little and Treasury permanent secretary James Bowler.
After 35 years of public service, Sir Chris became the shortest-serving cabinet secretary in history. His 14-month mandate was far less than the 23 months Sir Mark Sedwill served under Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
His 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 was part of an attempt to draw a line under the scandal over the appointment of Peter Mandelson and Matthew Doyle to senior roles despite their relationships with sex offenders; Sir Keir was facing questions over his decision.
The government has vowed to improve vetting processes after the Prime Minister claimed Lord Mandelson lied about the depth of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein during his vetting before his appointment as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.
