A few thoughts about the Antonia Romeo furore. This will doubtless not help her at all but Starmer would be nuts to cave in on appointing her as the first female cabinet secretary.
1) Yes, she is ballsy and brassy (in a very posh way), likes a party and mixes with all sorts of interesting folk. She’s flirty and fun and scary in equal measure but these outgoing people skills mean she brings people with her. Is she better with men than women? Possibly. She’s ambitious! And admits it! Good grief. A woman with ambition. Whatever next?
Starmer would be nuts to cave in on appointing her as the first female cabinet secretary
2) Bluntly, she’s also an arse-kicker, a doer, someone who partnered with Shabana Mahmood, forming the best minister-mandarin double act in Whitehall. She is exactly the kind of disruptor any PM needs if they want to actually get anything done. This passive PM needs this more than anyone, particularly after appointing her diametric human opposite in 2024, Chris Wormald.
3) The attributes above are precisely those which most unnerve the smooth, consensual, time-serving blob boys who have failed prime minister after prime minister. Wormald is their patron saint and former permanent secretary of the Foreign Office, Simon McDonald, their spirit animal. You can smell the stench of their disapproval from here. McDonald has already helped bring down one PM (with far more justification than here) and has now warned Starmer against appointing Romeo. He seems to love the attention and the sound of his own voice – and doubtless all the messages of support he has been receiving from the self-satisfied Sir Humphreys.
4) Romeo was investigated for allegations of bullying and expenses when she was consul general in New York and was cleared. Is this awkward? Sure. Is it the same as consorting with paedophiles? Emphatically not. Read Harry Cole’s stories about this and judge for yourself
5) Just as importantly, Antonia has already been passed fit to become cabinet secretary by an independent panel. As I was once the first to report, the panel said four candidates were ‘appointable’, two with no caveats (Wormald and Tamara Finkelstein) and two with caveats (Romeo and Oliver Robbins). The panel picked Finkelstein, and Starmer chose the most boring option who has failed just like him. Finkelstein has since resigned, while Robbins is up to his eyes remodelling the Foreign Office (and also presided over the second, post-appointment, phase of Mandelson’s ‘vetting’).
6) A minor point, but one which ought to endear her to some of her civil service colleagues is that she trained at former cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood’s knee. He picked her, promoted her and taught her the tricks of the trade. Some politicians thought Heywood had too many views and schemes of his own. But when a PM with direction needed someone to march his ideas through Whitehall like a Panzer commander through Northern France, Heywood was the perfect choice. It’s not an accident that five prime ministers gave genuinely heartfelt eulogies at his funeral.
Romeo was always a racy choice, but with the economy and ‘change’ stuck in the slow lane, it’s time for rocket boosters at the top of the civil service. Starmer was too slow to ditch Messrs Mandelson and Doyle, he should avoid the mistake of being too fast to ditch Romeo. She is everything Starmer wanted Sue Gray to be (but wasn’t) and more. And if he does bottle it, his next call should be to Finkelstein, Sarah Healey or even Helen MacNamara, rather than one of the plodding male mandarins. MacNamara (yes, of karaoke set fame) is former deputy cabinet secretary, and the only civil servant Dominic Cummings ever respected.
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