Will the last person out of No. 10 please turn out the lights? First, it was Morgan McSweeney; then, Tim Allan. Tonight, Chris Wormald, is the latest name being about to depart the heart of government. It was just 14 months ago that Sir Chris was appointed Cabinet Secretary – the most senior official in Whitehall – by Keir Starmer. At the time, the Prime Minister oozed oleaginous praise on him, issuing a gushing press release that described him as a model of ‘exceptional civil service leadership.’ Someone pass the sick bag…
Unfortunately for Sir Chris, those words are just the latest to come back and haunt Sir Keir. For it is now expected that Wormald is to become one of the fall guys for the vetting process that cleared Lord Mandelson to become ambassador to the US. One government source told the Times that Wormald had to take ‘ultimate responsibility’ for failings in the vetting process. Yet Wormald took up the role only a few days before Mandelson’s appointment was formally announced. So much for all that talk of never blaming staff for the principal’s failings…
Wormald is tonight understood to be negotiating his exit package in the fallout from the Mandelson scandal. Given this government’s negotiating abilities, Mr S expects him to get a good pay-out…
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