Gus O’Donnell has just emailed colleagues to say that he is announcing his retirement today. He will be leaving the civil service at the end of this year.
His successor as Cabinet Secretary will be Jeremy Heywood, the current permanent secretary at Number 10 who has managed to make himself indispensable to David Cameron. But Heywood, who is not overly popular with the departmental permanent secretaries, will not become head of the home civil service. That job will instead go to one of the other permanent secretaries who will take this on in addition to their current role. Ian Watmore, of Football Association fame, will become the permanent secretary at Number 10.
Heywood’s appointment as Cabinet Secretary is a testament to the high regard in which he has held at Number 10. He is routinely described as one of the few civil servants with a “can do attitude”. It is this approach that has made him a favourite of both Brown and Cameron.
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