Simon Case is predicted to step down as cupboard secretary early subsequent yr on medical recommendation, after taking day off for well being causes final yr.
The previous royal aide, appointed by Boris Johnson to the highest job within the civil service in the course of the pandemic, has overseen Whitehall departments by means of the Partygate scandal in addition to the premierships of Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
Keir Starmer and his new chief of employees, Sue Grey, will now search a contemporary begin for the civil service, which has endured years of assaults from ministers and threats by successive prime ministers to chop jobs.
A number of Whitehall sources stated they believed it could be a extra open competitors than has been run previously – with a large discipline to make sure the perfect candidate. There has by no means been a cupboard secretary who was not a white man.
Listed here are the runners and riders for the position:
Sir Oliver Robbins
“Olly” Robbins, who was lately made a accomplice at Hakluyt, a consultancy based by ex-MI6 intelligence officers, has repeatedly been linked with the job. He oversaw Brexit negotiations beneath Theresa Might earlier than leaving the civil service in December 2019.
He has been noticed going to fulfill Starmer and his staff, however has not confirmed that he could be involved in making a return to authorities.
Nevertheless, one Whitehall insider stated they thought Robbins might need an excessive amount of “Brexit-related baggage” to be the suitable match for the cupboard secretary job, and instructed he might be lined up for a extra worldwide or safety position as an alternative. “He’s straight out of civil service central casting, and do they want that?” the insider added.
Antonia Romeo
The everlasting secretary on the Ministry of Justice is a uncommon high-profile senior civil servant. She could have irritated colleagues by having a better profile than many everlasting secretaries. However Romeo’s repute was burnished when it emerged she had spoken out on behalf of extra junior colleagues in the course of the row over Dominic Raab’s bullying of personal workplace employees. She was reported to have spoken to the then justice secretary when he returned to the division to warn him that he should deal with employees professionally and with respect, amid unhappiness about his return.
Sharon White
The outgoing chair of the John Lewis Partnership is a extremely revered former civil servant – and half of an influence couple along with her husband, Sir Robert Chote, the chief of the UK Statistics Authority and a former head of the Workplace for Funds Accountability.
White, named the UK’s most influential black enterprise individual in 2023, stated in June that she was retiring from the job after getting the retailer “back on track” and “more fit for the future”. However some within the business informed the Guardian final yr that she was “too clever for retail” and extra used to the “genteel decorum” of the civil service. White had beforehand been a Treasury official and chief govt of Ofcom.
Jeremy Pocklington
A profession civil servant, Pocklington has been the everlasting secretary of the Division for Vitality Safety and Internet Zero since its creation, after doing the highest job on the Ministry of Housing. He’s recognized to have gotten on with Grey, who might be working carefully with whoever will get the position as cupboard secretary, and lately spoke to the World Governance Discussion board on how the “AI and digital revolution is going to transform the civil service”.
Melanie Dawes
Dawes, the chief govt of Ofcom, has beforehand labored in an enormous variety of authorities departments, from HMRC to the Cupboard Workplace and the Treasury, and has been the everlasting secretary of the then Division of Communities, together with in the course of the time of the Grenfell Tower fireplace. She gave an interview to Civil Service World final yr which touched on the difficulties of juggling parenthood with an enormous job, and the way Grenfell had helped give her a “very deep belief in the importance of good, effective, proportionate regulation”.
