The exit of Sue Grey as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of employees has shaken up the competition for the following cupboard secretary, with officers predicting a feminine candidate is now likelier to win.
There was a notion amongst Whitehall officers that Grey favoured Sir Olly Robbins, a former senior mandarin who served beforehand as Europe adviser to Theresa Might, for the £200,000-a-year job.
A raft of Labour officers and civil servants consider that Grey’s departure from Downing Road on Sunday, following months of infighting and detrimental briefings, might have an effect on the race. “It’s a extra open discipline now,” mentioned one Whitehall determine.
A sequence of feminine candidates, together with Grey’s former boss Sarah Healey, and Dame Antonia Romeo, who’re each everlasting secretaries at main departments, are touted as contenders.
The race to guide the UK’s civil service was triggered when incumbent Simon Case introduced final week that he was stepping down on the finish of the 12 months as he receives therapy for a “neurological situation”.
The cupboard secretary is essentially the most senior civil servant within the nation and the principal official adviser to the prime minister and the cupboard.
An advert for Case’s alternative seeks an skilled Whitehall operator with distinctive management and communication expertise, a pointy mind and “well-developed political sensitivity”.
Grey and Robbins have been acquaintances for nearly 20 years since they have been each officers on the coronary heart of presidency coping with the fallout of the “money for honours” affair that hit Tony Blair on the finish of his premiership.
Some argue that Robbins’s probabilities have fallen with Grey’s departure, although different Whitehall insiders insist the hyperlink between the pair is overstated.
Robbins stays “within the dialog” for the highest civil service job, based on one official, however can be seen as a frontrunner for Starmer’s subsequent nationwide safety adviser.
In the meantime, the prospects of Healey, everlasting secretary on the housing ministry, might have risen: Healey was Grey’s line supervisor on the division they usually have been mentioned to not have gelled.
Nonetheless, there may be extra speak in Whitehall concerning the prospects of Romeo, everlasting secretary on the justice division, who has been grappling with the disaster in Britain’s prisons in current months. She was beforehand everlasting secretary on the worldwide commerce division.
“It’s all about grip and resilience now,” mentioned one official, arguing that Romeo had dealt with the prisons disaster effectively and had confirmed an efficient administrator.
One other particular person near Starmer mentioned: “I believe Antonia is gaining floor as a result of there’s a case now for selecting somebody who has run numerous authorities departments.”
Others say that Romeo is at all times “overpriced” for promotion due to her comparatively excessive media profile, though she has been far much less seen publicly over the previous two years.
Dame Melanie Dawes, head of Ofcom, advised the Monetary Instances this month she was pleased heading the media regulator, however can be seen as one other sturdy contender.
Different feminine candidates whose names have been touted embrace Tamara Finkelstein, everlasting secretary on the setting division, and Cat Little, a former deputy chief mandarin on the Treasury who not too long ago took the helm on the Cupboard Workplace.
John McTernan, former political secretary to Tony Blair in No 10, mentioned “it’s about time” Britain had a feminine cupboard secretary, including that there was a slew of related expertise: “There are some actually, actually good girls in positions throughout Whitehall.”
Nonetheless, he advised a second motivation may contribute to a feminine candidate triumphing. “There’s been turbulence round Sue Grey and unfair accusations that Downing Road is a boys’ membership. One of the best ways to dispel that declare is to nominate a lady,” he mentioned.
One other Labour determine agreed that gender “shouldn’t be the first qualification for the job”, however added: “I believe all different issues being equal, they’d need a lady candidate.”
Functions shut on the finish of subsequent week, with the evaluation course of — overseen by first civil service commissioner Baroness Gisela Stuart and a panel — involving interviews and duties comparable to going through a simulated choose committee.
Suggestions will then be put to Starmer, who is predicted to hold out his personal interview course of earlier than he makes the ultimate choice. Officers anticipate Case’s successor might be introduced by the top of November.
A Downing Road official dismissed the suggestion that Grey’s exit would make any distinction to the competition, saying the prime minister had at all times needed “an open course of with a variety of candidates thought of”.
Alex Thomas, programme director on the Institute for Authorities, mentioned the victor faces a frightening job, after tensions between successive Tory administrations and Whitehall lately severely damped morale.
“The largest process going through the incoming cupboard secretary can be to guide the civil service after a tough time,” he mentioned. “Constructing the aptitude of civil servants and restoring the boldness of the establishment is important.”
Starmer can be set to decide on a brand new nationwide safety adviser to exchange Sir Tim Barrow, after cancelling Rishi Sunak’s selection for the job, though the advert for that function has not but been posted.
