Antonia Romeo, the highest-ranking civil servant working for Keir Starmer, has been granted a significant new mandate to execute the Prime Minister’s agenda. Meanwhile, Darren Jones, who held the position of chief secretary at No. 10, has transitioned to a more subdued role.<\/p>\n
Romeo, who was elevated to her current position last month, has taken over as cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, succeeding Chris Wormald, whose tenure was deemed ineffective by No. 10 following a challenging year.<\/p>\n
In stark contrast to her predecessor, Romeo’s outlined objectives emphasize her commitment to \u201cclearly lead the civil service with energy, clarity, and enthusiasm,\u201d while also fostering a culture that values curiosity, innovation, and pride, along with recognizing high performance and excellence in service delivery.<\/p>\n
Additionally, she has been tasked with the responsibility of revising the civil service code and implementing reforms aimed at ensuring the civil service is acknowledged for its excellence in delivery, innovation, and enhanced productivity.<\/p>\n
The change in Jones’s responsibilities was initially reported by the Financial Times, which highlighted his reduced presence in Downing Street and increased focus on the Cabinet Office since Romeo\u2019s ascension.<\/p>\n
Sources within the Cabinet Office indicated that while Jones retains his position as chief secretary to the prime minister and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, his role has become less involved in the \u201cday-to-day\u201d operations now that a new team is in place. His previous efforts have been credited with successfully aiding the turnaround of No. 10.<\/p>\n
Jones will now concentrate on civil service reform and the implementation of digital ID initiatives while continuing to chair meetings for the prime minister and address various challenges that arise.<\/p>\n
He was appointed as chief secretary to the prime minister last September during a time when Starmer was looking to strengthen his team after the departure of communications chief James Lyons and long-serving press chief Steph Driver.<\/p>\n
According to Downing Street sources, Vidhya Alakeson, one of two deputies who was promoted to interim chief of staff following Morgan McSweeney’s resignation, is performing exceptionally well and is a leading candidate for the position on a permanent basis. Her co-chief of staff, Jill Cuthbertson, is currently on parental leave.<\/p>\n
There remains a vacancy for the director of communications; however, long-time press aide Sophie Nazemi has stepped into the role on an interim basis following Tim Allan’s resignation.<\/p>\n
With Romeo’s promotion and Alakeson’s expanded role, the key delivery positions at the core of the government are now occupied by women.<\/p>\n
Romeo, who previously served as a permanent secretary at the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, is the first cabinet secretary to articulate her goals for the role since Jeremy Heywood, who served under several prime ministers.<\/p>\n
The five primary objectives set forth include leading the official delivery of the prime minister’s priorities, acting as his chief policy advisor, facilitating effective Cabinet governance and decision-making, reforming the civil service, and overseeing a civil service that is impartial, engaged, and curious.<\/p>\n
These goals clearly indicate that Romeo will serve as both the principal civil service advisor to the prime minister and the leader of the civil service, despite recent discussions advocating for the separation of these two roles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Antonia Romeo, the highest-ranking civil servant working for Keir Starmer, has been granted a significant new mandate to execute the Prime Minister’s agenda. Meanwhile, Darren Jones, who held the position of chief secretary at No. 10, has transitioned to a more subdued role. Romeo, who was elevated to her current position last month, has taken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[988,129,130,1090,555,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk-civil-service","category-uk-keir-starmer","category-uk-labour","category-uk-morgan-mcsweeney","category-uk-politics","category-uk"],"yoast_head":"\n