Keir Starmer has been criticised over reported plans to remove the cabinet secretary Sir Chris Wormald.
Wormald's reported departure comes after Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, resigned on Sunday over his decision to advise the PM to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.
King’s College London professor of government Sir Vernon Bogdanor warned it would be “a constitutional outrage were the prime minister to 'force out' the cabinet secretary over the vetting of Lord Mandelson, especially as Sir Chris Wormald took up his post just a few days before the appointment was announced” in a letter to The Times.
He pointed out that it is “for the cabinet secretary to advise and the prime minister to decide” and so constitutional responsibility lies with the PM.
“Anything else would subvert the principle of civil service impartiality, by making it difficult if not impossible for officials to serve governments of different political colours,” Bogdanor said.
He also raised concern about the impact the move would have on the civil service's status as a neutral and permanent institution.
“Wormald would be the third cabinet secretary to be forced out," Bogdanor said. "Before the departure of Sir Mark Sedwill in 2020 it was generally accepted that the cabinet secretary had security of tenure. It is that security which underlies civil service impartiality. Indeed the political neutrality of the civil service flows from its career basis. Dominic Cummings believes that the idea of a non-partisan civil service is one “for the history books”. Recent experience, however, underlines the value of advice not dependent on the whim of politicians, here today and gone tomorrow, and of advisers who can speak truth to power even if their advice is sometimes unpalatable.”
Dave Penman, general secretary at the FDA, said the speculation and press briefing about Wormald's position, "presumably from people in No.10", was "just extraordinary, not only undermining in terms of Chris as an individual but the role of cabinet secretary". The boss of the union for senior civil servants said the briefing also has a "chilling effect across the civil service".
"This is no way to run a country," Penman told the BBC. "Civil servants serve the government of the day. If you are a permanent secretary or a cabinet secretary, you have to have the confidence of the minister or prime minister. They’re entitled to their view on that but this is no way to treat anyone to allow this sort of speculation to continue. And there is no current vacancy that people are speculating about in terms of other candidates."
The Institute for Government’s Alex Thomas and Hannah Keenan, meanwhile, warned that the “timing and means” of Wormald’s rumoured departure would “weaken the role of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service”.
For Wormald to be dismissed in the aftermath of a political crisis, they said, would leave the role of cabinet secretary "more ephemeral and less substantial".
"Prime ministers need robust cabinet secretaries to broker between the big beasts of the state, and to give honest advice, especially when unwelcome," they said.
Dismissing Wormald now, they added, would take "the head of the civil service further down a path of shorter tenures, quick removals from the top post and weaker leadership".
Former Foreign Office permanent secretary Simon McDonald last night described the rumoured move, which was first reported on Monday, as “extraordinary” in an interview with Channel4.
“I am convinced this is unusual,” he said. “This prime minister chose this cabinet secretary exactly 14 months ago. It's usual for cabinet secretaries to serve several prime ministers and about a decade, so this is an extraordinary development.”
In this morning’s Downing Street lobby, the PM’s spokesperson refused to answer whether media speculation that Wormald is being removed from the position is true, and would also not say whether or not he is still the cab sec.
The spokesperson said he would not comment on “ongoing speculation” but did say that the Cabinet Office was '“still being supervised by the cabinet secretary”.
In McDonald's interview, he warned that, if Wormald is being removed from the role, there should be a full process to replace the cab sec.
“This is the most important job in the civil service,” he said. “It can't be chosen on the fly, it can't be chosen using a process that is more than one year old. If the prime minister wants a new cabinet secretary, he needs to start from scratch.”