Starmer Forces Out Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald in 'Shabby' Purge as Epstein Fallout Guts No 10

The revolving door at 10 Downing Street spun once more on Wednesday when Prime Minister Keir Starmer forced out his cabinet secretary, Sir Chris Wormald, barely 14 months after personally appointing him to the most senior position in the British civil service . The departure — framed officially as a resignation "by mutual consent" — made Wormald the third high-ranking figure to leave Starmer's inner circle in the span of a single week, following chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and director of communications Tim Allan .

The immediate trigger for the shake-up was the Peter Mandelson affair: the revelation that Starmer's government had approved the veteran Labour figure as ambassador to the United States despite his documented ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein . Wormald, as cabinet secretary, was responsible for the vetting process that cleared Mandelson's appointment, and Downing Street sources told The Guardian that the prime minister had lost confidence in him over that failure — as well as over a perceived lack of urgency in driving civil service reform .

But it was the manner of Wormald's exit that drew the sharpest criticism. Lord Gus O'Donnell, who served as cabinet secretary for six years under three prime ministers — Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, and David Cameron — told the BBC's Today programme that Starmer's treatment of Wormald had been "shabby" . He singled out the pattern of anonymous negative briefings emanating from No 10, comparing them to the earlier ousting of Sue Gray, Starmer's first chief of staff.

"Where it is shabby is the fact that we've got to this place and that they have briefed anonymously against the cabinet secretary, saying it's not working," O'Donnell said . "This is a process that this government, I'm afraid, [it's] one of their biggest failings. You've seen it right from the start with Sue Gray, briefings against her, all the rest of it."

O'Donnell also turned his fire on the culture of special advisers — or "spads" — around Starmer. "Really good spads are really useful," he said, citing Ed Balls, Alastair Campbell, and Jonathan Powell as examples. "Bad special advisers turn out to be second rate PR people. [They] can be disastrous" . He urged Starmer to take responsibility and "get a grip" of his operation.

The role of cabinet secretary is one of the most important in British governance. Created in 1916, the position combines head of the civil service with secretary to the Cabinet, serving as the principal adviser to the prime minister on the machinery of government. Unlike political appointees, the cabinet secretary is meant to provide continuity and institutional memory across administrations. Previous holders have typically served for years: O'Donnell held the post from 2005 to 2011, Jeremy Heywood from 2012 to 2018, and Mark Sedwill from 2018 to 2020 . The normal appointment process involves an open competition overseen by the Civil Service Commission, designed to insulate the role from political patronage.

Starmer's decision to override the appointment panel's recommendation in late 2024 — the panel had favoured Tamara Finkelstein, who has since left the civil service — was itself unusual . To then force out his own chosen candidate barely a year later is, constitutional experts say, without modern precedent and raises fundamental questions about the independence of the senior civil service from political pressure.

The FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, weighed in forcefully. General secretary Dave Penman called the sustained negative briefing against Wormald "extraordinary" and said it was "no way to run a country" . Former Home Office permanent secretary Philip Rutnam, himself a casualty of ministerial briefing wars under the previous Conservative government, warned that the practice "saps morale" and is "deeply destabilising" for the civil service as a whole .

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch seized on the chaos, declaring that Wormald had become the latest official Starmer had sacrificed to protect himself from the political fallout of the Mandelson affair . That framing — of a prime minister scapegoating subordinates to deflect from his own misjudgements — gained traction across the political spectrum, with even sympathetic Labour voices cautioning against rash decision-making .

The front-runner to replace Wormald is Dame Antonia Romeo, currently the permanent secretary at the Home Office, who would become the first woman to hold the cabinet secretary post . Downing Street views her as a dynamic official outside the traditional civil service mould who can drive the reform agenda that Wormald allegedly neglected. In the interim, Romeo will share cabinet secretary responsibilities with Catherine Little of the Cabinet Office and James Bowler of the Treasury .

However, Romeo's candidacy is not without controversy. Former Foreign Office permanent secretary Simon McDonald, who was her boss during her time as consul general in New York, has called for "more due diligence" and raised questions about a previous investigation into her spending — though a Cabinet Office probe cleared her of any wrongdoing . Supporters pushed back, with one government minister defending her track record and noting her 25-year career of public service .

Romeo won respect within the civil service for warning Dominic Raab when he was justice secretary about behaviour that led to his being found to have engaged in bullying conduct towards officials . She has also impressed current Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, suggesting she may carry ministerial support into any confirmation process.

The broader picture is one of a government in deep institutional crisis. The Mandelson-Epstein scandal has triggered a chain reaction that has hollowed out Starmer's top team at the worst possible moment. McSweeney resigned on February 8 after days of pressure over his role in the Mandelson appointment . Allan followed. And now Wormald's exit has left the prime minister with a severely depleted operation — heading into the Munich Security Conference where Britain's allies and adversaries alike are watching closely.

The financial details of Wormald's departure add another layer of awkwardness. He is expected to receive a payout of approximately £260,000 — a sum Starmer reportedly had to authorise through a formal "ministerial direction" after officials objected on value-for-money grounds . A ministerial direction is issued when civil servants cannot justify a spending decision, typically on grounds of propriety or economy, and it places the political responsibility squarely on the minister who signs it.

Wormald, for his part, issued a measured farewell. "It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as a civil servant for the past 35 years," he said, adding: "Our country is fortunate to have such dedicated individuals devoted to public service" .

The question now is whether Romeo's appointment — if confirmed by the civil service commissioner — can stabilise No 10, or whether Starmer's pattern of burning through senior staff will continue to erode confidence in his leadership. The constitutional stakes are high: a civil service that feels politically exposed is one that plays it safe, avoids bold advice, and stops speaking truth to power — precisely the opposite of the reform Starmer says he wants.