BOMBSHELL AS TOP CIVIL SERVANT IS OUSTED
BRITAIN’S top civil servant quit last night following a power struggle with the Prime Minister’s top aide Dominic Cummings.
In a dramatic move, Sir Mark Sedwill announced he would resign as Cabinet Secretary and step down as Boris Johnson’s national security adviser.
His departure, which will take place in September, was presented as a mutual decision, with Sir Mark and Mr Johnson praising each other’s records. But it follows a bitter power struggle with Mr Cummings, who is said to have regarded Sir Mark as a ‘roadblock’ to a radical shake-up of Whitehall.
Sir Mark will be replaced as national security adviser by David
Frost, currently the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator – and a close ally of Mr Cummings. Government sources last night confirmed the decision marks a ‘hard deadline’ for the Brexit trade talks, which resume in Brussels today.
Sources said Mr Johnson was clear a deal had to be agreed before Mr Frost moves to his new role in September. Recruitment of a new Cabinet Secretary will start immediately, but candidates will be limited to acting and former permanent secretaries.
Prince William’s private secretary Simon Case, who is on secondment to No10, starts the race as favourite – although sources last night said it would be an open competition.
The role is one of the most senior positions in the British constitution, with the incumbent responsible for relations between Government and the Queen. Sir Mark’s departure comes just days after Mr
Cummings is reported to have told Government advisers ‘a hard rain is coming’ to Whitehall – an apparent reference to the radioactive showers that follow a nuclear blast.
He is said to have advised Mr Johnson to sack the former diplomat at the end of last month following clashes over the scale and timing of the planned shake-up.
But Mr Johnson and Sir Mark finalised his departure at a private lunch on June 2, and agreed to try to paint the departure as amicable. As well as a good civil service payoff, Sir Mark has been given a peerage and a role leading a panel on global economic security ahead of next year’s G7 summit in the UK.
Mr Johnson is also said to have indicated he is open to backing Sir Mark’s ambition to become the next head of Nato when Jens Stoltenberg steps down in 2022.
Despite this – and a clear-the-air drink with Mr Cummings last week – Sir Mark has been the subject of increasingly hostile briefings from within Government in recent weeks. Some Brexiteers distrust him after the Daily Mail revealed last year that he was instrumental in persuading Mrs May not to pursue a no-deal Brexit.
He initially won over Mr Cummings, but the relationship steadily soured. Sir Mark now becomes the third senior Whitehall mandarin to quit this year following clashes with ministers and No10.
Former Home Office chief Sir Philip Rutnam resigned in February after making explosive bullying allegations against Priti Patel, and Foreign Office chief Sir Simon McDonald resigned this month following reports he was on a No10 ‘s*** list’ because of his antiBrexit views.
The departure of the Cabinet Secretary gives Mr Johnson and his controversial chief adviser free rein over their planned restructuring of Whitehall.
In a speech at the weekend, Michael Gove set out the scale of the agenda, saying: ‘The structures, ambitions and priorities of the Government machine need to change if real reform is to be implemented and endure.’ Mr Gove, a close ally of Mr Cummings, took a swipe at the calibre of Whitehall mandarins, saying: ‘We have neglected to ensure that senior members of the civil service have all the basic skills required to serve Government, and our citizens, well.’
Mr Gove said there should be more Brexiteers in Whitehall, and that the Government machine should be broken up and dispersed around the country. Despite this, Sir Mark secured agreement that his successor will be drawn from the ranks of acting and former permanent secretaries rather than parachuted in from the world of business or academia as some allies of Mr Cummings wanted.
Mr Case, who returned to Government last month as No10’s permanent secretary, was favourite for the job last night.
Ministry of Defence permanent secretary Sir Stephen Lovegrove is said to be among his likely rivals,
‘Implement real reform’
as are his counterpart at the Home Office Matthew rycroft and eU ambassador Sir Tim Barrow.
Ofcom chief Dame Melanie Dawes and John lewis chairman Dame Sharon White are possible candidates to be the UK’s first female Cabinet Secretary.
In a handwritten letter, the PM said Sir Mark had ‘skilfully navigated us politicians through some exceptionally choppy waters – a change of premiership, an election, then Brexit, followed by the crisis of Covid 19.’
In his letter to Mr Johnson, Sir Mark said it had been ‘a privilege to serve’. But the First Division Association union, which represents senior civil servants, said Sir Mark had been undermined by ‘cowardly briefings from the heart of government’.