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A former chief UK negotiator for Brexit and three serving Whitehall division chiefs have made the shortlist to change into the following cupboard secretary, with an announcement anticipated as quickly as this week.
Sir Keir Starmer has already begun interviewing the ultimate 4 candidates for the £200,000-a-year function, which entails advising the prime minister and the cupboard in addition to overseeing the civil service.
Sir Olly Robbins, a former director-general of the civil service who was additionally probably the most senior official concerned in Brexit talks between 2017-19, is the one exterior candidate, based on individuals acquainted with the method.
He at present heads up the Europe, Center East and Africa division at world strategic advisory agency Hakluyt, after a stint at Goldman Sachs following twenty years on Whitehall.
The inner candidates are Dame Antonia Romeo, everlasting secretary on the Ministry of Justice; Tamara Finkelstein, everlasting secretary on the Division for Atmosphere, Meals & Rural Affairs; and Sir Chris Wormald, everlasting secretary on the Division of Well being and Social Care.
Nikhil Rathi, chief government of the Monetary Conduct Authority and a former personal secretary to each Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, had been longlisted, however didn’t make the shortlist. The FCA was on Monday lambasted by MPs and Lords in a damning report that known as for an entire overhaul of the regulator.
Starmer is searching for a alternative for Simon Case, who introduced in September that he was stepping down on the finish of the 12 months as he receives remedy for an undisclosed “neurological situation”.
Case was appointed in 2020 by then-prime minister Boris Johnson and was on the helm of the civil service throughout the pandemic-era “Partygate” scandal.
Up till now the method to nominate his successor has been dealt with by the primary civil service commissioner Baroness Gisela Stuart and a panel, who interviewed a longlist of 10 candidates.
Starmer is interviewing the candidates individually — partially to check his “chemistry” with them, because the prime minister and cupboard secretary will work collectively carefully, based on one individual acquainted with the method.
Robbins was mentioned to have been championed by Starmer’s former chief of employees Sue Grey, although his candidacy has survived her departure from Downing Avenue.
There had been predictions {that a} girl can be chosen to counter accusations of a “boys’ membership” on the coronary heart of presidency, however officers mentioned the appointment can be made on benefit.
Romeo was beforehand on the helm of the Division for Worldwide Commerce and was a former Consul-Normal in New York.
Wormald is the longest-serving everlasting secretary, having been on the helm of the well being division since 2016, and earlier than that having overseen the Division for Schooling. He carried out some components of Case’s function whereas he was on medical depart, based on individuals with data of the scenario.
Finkelstein labored for twenty years on the Treasury, and her function at Defra is her first everlasting secretary job.
Sir Suma Chakrabarti, a former ministry of justice everlasting secretary, was earlier chosen, however did not make the ultimate shortlist. Melanie Dawes, head of the media regulator Ofcom, had been broadly tipped as a doable candidate, however didn’t apply.
