Who IS in charge of the clattering train? The Government now has no chief of staff, Cabinet Secretary or head of communications – and the Prime Minister’s said to care more about the dress code at meetings than policies
Keir Starmer was accused on Thursday night of throwing another member of his top team under the bus to save his own life.
As turmoil deepened in his floundering government, the Prime Minister sacked Sir Chris Wormald barely a year after appointing him head of Britain’s civil service.
His dramatic move came hours after an extraordinary farce in which Downing Street did not say who took the job of Cabinet Secretary.
In a sign of the chaos at No 10, duty was split between three temporary staff last night.
And it means Sir Keir has lost three of his most senior appointees in less than a week, following the resignations of Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney on Sunday and Communications Director Tim Allan the following day.
Mr. McSweeney was replaced by two interim chiefs of staff, further increasing the number of decision-makers.
The Prime Minister, thrown into turmoil by the Mandelson scandal, faces increasing questions about who will lead his government.
Just last week, Sir Chris was given the key task of overseeing the release of documents that led to the appointment of New Labour’s disgraced ambassador as ambassador to the US.
Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at a cabinet meeting earlier this year
It has been announced that responsibilities for an ‘interim period’ will be shared by the heads of three departments in Whitehall: Cat Little of the Cabinet Office (pictured left), James Bowler of the Treasury (pictured middle) and Dame Antonia of the Home Office (pictured right).
The Prime Minister has also been dragged into a bitter row over who will get the £220,000-a-year full-time Cabinet Secretary job after a former diplomat contacted Number 10 to warn against it being given to one of the temporary holders, Dame Antonia Romeo.
Sir Chris is on track to earn more than £250,000 after 35 years working in Whitehall and has a £2.5 million pension to look forward to when he retires.
On Thursday night Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘The Cabinet Secretary is the last person Keir Starmer will throw under the bus to save his own life.
‘To add insult to injury, he signed up for a payment of £250,000 in what amounted to ‘hush money’, with taxpayers’ permission.
‘The Prime Minister’s decision was once again found wanting. ‘For a man who has played a holier-than-thou role all his life, the latest series of gaffes shows someone who is at best unfit for the role, or at worst morally bankrupt.’
Sir Keir only appointed Sir Chris as head of the civil service in December 2024, ignoring warnings that he would not be brave enough.
Sir Keir, meanwhile, was accused of being more concerned with what his team were wearing to meetings 10 than the government’s priorities, as he and Attorney-General Lord Hermer arrived wearing ‘polo shirt jackets’.
One senior told The Spectator: ‘It’s a very strange thing… You get a note the night before telling everyone to make sure they’re wearing smart casual.’
For several days neither the Cabinet Office nor Number 10 would say whether the country’s most senior civil servant was still in his job.
Finally, late on Thursday afternoon the Government announced Sir Chris would stand down ‘by mutual agreement’.
It has been announced that ‘for an interim period’ the responsibilities will be shared by the heads of three departments in Whitehall: Cat Little of the Cabinet Office, James Bowler of the Treasury and Dame Antonia of the Home Office.
The government said a permanent replacement for Sir Chris would be appointed ‘shortly’.
But Sir Keir is already under pressure not to give the job to Dame Antonia, dubbed the Queen of Woke.
As The Mail on Sunday revealed in 2020, he was investigated for bullying and misappropriation of expenses while serving as Consul General in New York. He was later acquitted.
Former Foreign Office chief Lord McDonald of Salford revealed he contacted Number 10 to warn Dame Antonia against taking the job without a proper recruitment process.
He told Channel 4 News: ‘In my view there is still some way to go in terms of due diligence.’
A Government source insisted: ‘There is absolutely no basis for this criticism. The allegations all come from a single complaint filed by a former employee some time ago. ‘They were all dismissed.’
