When Boris Johnson appointed Simon Case to the Cabinet Office, he believed that the youngest cabinet secretary in a century (just 41 when he accepted the role) would be more malleable than his more experienced rivals. Case was appointed in September 2020, when Dominic Cummings was, in effect, running No. 10 and had big ideas about rewiring Whitehall. ‘Simon was picked to be Dom’s stooge,’ says one former Johnson aide. ‘His role was to let Dom be Dom.’
One person who appears to be finding an upside to Sue Gray’s woes is Simon Case
Conversely, when Keir Starmer asked Sue Gray to be his chief of staff, the idea was that a civil servant with her seniority would be able to bring to Labour, a party that has been out of power for more than a decade, the planning and expertise needed to prepare for government. There was also the bonus that her new position could be read as a damning verdict on the Tories’ behaviour in government, since she was the one to have investigated Johnson’s parties in No. 10.
Both appointments were ultimately aimed at shaping the machinery of government. Now they risk becoming drag anchors. Case has been significantly weakened by several recent dramas, including his role in the government-by-WhatsApp during lockdown, and what he knew about Richard Sharp’s link to a loan for Boris Johnson, while there are doubts Gray will take up her post before the election.
To the annoyance of Labour, the Tories have spent the final days of the local election campaign not talking about core issues but moving the news agenda to concerns over Gray’s appointment. ‘It’s Sue Gray week,’ says one excitable aide. While some of this is political point-scoring, there are legitimate questions over the appointment process which could come back to haunt Starmer.
Gray is subject to two inquiries about whether she correctly disclosed the negotiations with Labour over the job. The first is a Cabinet Office investigation into her appointment. Since she has already resigned from the civil service, she is not being very compliant. ‘She is essentially pleading the fifth,’ says a government aide. There is some amusement that the partygate inquisitor is refusing to co-operate now the shoe is on the other foot.
The more important inquiry is by Acoba, the advisory committee on business appointments, which will recommend whether Gray can take the job. It may suggest a delay of more than a year as well as tweaks to the terms of engagement. The concern is obvious: should senior civil servants, who have privileged know-ledge of government problems, be poached by the opposition? Technically, she could ignore any order. But Starmer has suggested he will abide by any rulings.
The Tories hope two things will follow from this. First, that by the suggestion of murkiness in Gray’s appointment, Starmer’s reputation as ‘Mr Rules’ will be dented. The bigger prize would be if Gray is unable to take up the appointment for a long enough period for it to become a major headache for Labour. ‘She’s not even started the job and she is already the story. If you become that well-known, like Dominic Cummings or Alastair Campbell, it’s only a matter of time before you go,’ says a No. 10 veteran.
Others worry it screams of naivety in both Starmer and Gray. ‘It would have been much smarter for Starmer to just make her cabinet secretary on entering No. 10,’ says one former colleague of Gray, who recalls that her main loyalty in Whitehall was to the cats in the Cabinet Office.
One person who appears to be finding an upside to Gray’s woes is Case. According to Whitehall insiders, there is little love lost between the pair. Case (who was poached from the royal household to his No. 10 job) has never been viewed as one of the civil service, but as more of a political courtier. Now that even admirers of Gray are disappointed by the management of her appointment, Case can try to rebrand himself as a defender of civil servant impartiality.
It may not be enough. During the Johnson era, aides in meetings were struck that Case behaved more like a chief of staff while Dan Rosenfield – the real chief of staff – seemed happier playing a permanent secretary role. Matt Hancock’s leaked WhatsApp messages show Case acting like any other politician, even joining in partisan sniping against cabinet members who asked difficult questions about lockdown.
The WhatsApp leaks were difficult for Case. But the report into Sharp’s appointment as BBC chairman is worse. Sharp says that he told Case of his potential appointment as BBC chairman when he introduced Sam Blyth as a potential guarantor for a loan. Case has said he cannot recall the conversation in detail, despite evidence that draft ‘lines to take’ by the Cabinet Office suggested Sharp had informed Case about the ‘BBC appointment process’. If Case knew about Sharp’s link to the loan, should he not have insisted that it was declared?
Some of Case’s critics in Whitehall compare him to Macavity the mystery cat: ‘You may meet him in a bystreet, you may see him in the square / But when a crime’s discovered, then Macavity’s not there!’ Others say that he has made too many mistakes. ‘Simon’s judgment is totally off,’ says one former colleague.
It’s hard to find a senior civil servant willing to speak up in his defence – though several would like his job. A source close to Case says his focus is ‘entirely on leading the civil service to deliver’ on the Prime Minister’s priorities. There’s certainly more sympathy in Sunak’s government. Oliver Dowden, the new Deputy Prime Minister, is an old colleague of Case’s, and the pair have a good relationship from their time together in David Cameron’s No. 10. Case has also taken on a senior role on Sunak’s ‘stop the boats’ pledge.
Some Tory aides also see the benefit of having a more politically minded cabinet secretary – ‘better the devil we know’. He’s likely to be sacked by any Labour government, which means he could be a useful ally to the Tories. Case could quit, but Sunak is unlikely to push him.
Yet the problem for Sunak – which could soon become Starmer’s problem – is that prime ministers can be undone by a dysfunctional civil service. Where his predecessors would often attack civil servants with dramatic rhetoric, Sunak takes a more diplomatic approach. The Prime Minister is not against civil service reform, but it is not viewed in Downing Street as a priority ahead of the next election.
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