Another quiet, uneventful weekend for the Cabinet Secretary. The resignation of Richard Sharp as BBC Chairman on Friday re-opened questions about Simon Case’s involvement in facilitating a loan for Boris Johnson. On Saturday, Case was reported to have been sidelined by Johnson’s successor Rishi Sunak. Then on Sunday he was embroiled in questions about the use of Chevening as Liz Truss’s leadership base last summer. And now on Monday, he has become engulfed in a briefing war with Sue Gray and her allies amid claims that he is blocking her from being Starmer’s chief of staff as part of a ‘personal vendetta.’
Four headline stories across four consecutive days – what would Sir Humphrey have to say about that? Case emerged particularly poorly from the report by barrister Adam Heppinstall into Richard Sharp’s appointment for having an unminuted and undeclared meeting with him prior to his BBC appointment. Proper note-keeping is basically the raison d’etre of a Cabinet Secretary after all. That came out just a fortnight after Case was named in a discrimination lawsuit, with questions also arising about his knowledge about the conduct of Dominic Raab and Nadhim Zahawi. It comes amid worsening staff morale in the civil service, the aftershocks of the Partygate scandal and the underwhelming performances by the Cabinet Secretary at successive select committee hearings.
With Rishi Sunak now reportedly losing faith in his top mandarin, it looks like after the Coronation it might be Case closed for simple Simon…
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