Keir Starmer has appointed Chris Wormald, a career civil servant who heads the health department, to become the new cabinet secretary.
In what will be seen by some as a surprise choice, Wormald, who has spent eight years as permanent secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care, will take over from Simon Case on 16 December as the most senior official in the country, an official announcement said.
Wormald was viewed as arguably the most traditional and low-key of the four-strong shortlist, and was the least tipped of the group to take over from Case in a role that includes being head of the civil service.
Olly Robbins, who oversaw Brexit negotiations under Theresa May before leaving the civil service, was seen as a possible favourite. Also in the frame were Antonia Romeo, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, and Tamara Finkelstein, who holds the same role in the environment department.
Wormald will, however, arrive with some baggage and residual controversy, connected mainly to his role in the health department at the start of the Covid pandemic.
Some evidence from the official inquiry into Covid has linked Wormald, who gave evidence to the inquiry in November last year, to what was seen as a wider prevailing complacency that the UK was well prepared for any pandemic.
In evidence later that month, Patrick Vallance, who was the UK government’s chief scientific adviser at the time, said he had been reprimanded by Wormald, as well as Mark Sedwill, then-cabinet secretary, for calling for more urgent action to be taken against the virus in mid-March 2020.
Vallance said Wormald had been “incandescent” with anger at his actions, because he had not raised the idea through more formal channels.
Wormald also previously headed the Department for Education. He had stints in the Cabinet Office and the communities department, and as principal private secretary to Blair-era Labour ministers Estelle Morris and Charles Clarke, will be seen as a relatively low-key choice.
After Case announced in September that he would step down on health grounds after four years in the job, other names were more commonly cited as likely replacements.
Case, who spent four years as cabinet secretary, said he had been undergoing medical treatment for a neurological condition. He had also been linked to controversies over leaks and internal rows during the first months of the Starmer government.
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Announcing the decision, Starmer thanked Case “for his service to our country and for the invaluable support he has given to me personally during my first months as prime minister”, adding: “He has been a remarkable public servant over many years, and our best wishes go to him and his family as he now takes time to focus on his health.
“I am delighted that Chris Wormald has agreed to become the next cabinet secretary. He brings a wealth of experience to this role at a critical moment in the work of change this new government has begun.”
Wormald said he was “delighted” to get the job, adding: “The government has set a clear mandate – an ambitious agenda with working people at its heart. That will require each and every one of us to embrace the change agenda in how the British state operates.”
Source: theguardian.com
