Kwarteng and PM seek new blood for top Treasury role
Three senior civil servants in frame for permanent secretary job as country faces threat of recession
A THREE-WAY race has broken out to become the Treasury’s most senior civil servant as Liz Truss and her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, look to make a swift decision over the role.
The Treasury permanent secretary position has been vacant since last week when Mr Kwarteng sacked the occupant Sir Tom Scholar in one of his first acts in the department.
The move chimed with the Prime Minister and Chancellor’s scepticism about what they have dubbed “Treasury orthodoxy”, but prompted a backlash from former civil servants.
With the economy facing soaring inflation and the threat of recession, a speedy decision on Sir Tom’s replacement is being sought in No10 and No11.
The Daily Telegraph understands that in primary contention for the role are three of the country’s most senior civil servants who each already heads a government department.
One is Antonia Romeo, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice. She developed a close working relationship with Ms Truss when they were both at the Department of International Trade.
Ms Romeo, 47, has experience of economic briefs, having led the Economic and Domestic Secretariat in the Cabinet Office in the past.
She has also struck trade deals when permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade and has business experience having been consul general in New York.
The second mandarin in contention is James Bowler, 49, the permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade.
He was tipped to become the Cabinet secretary – the most senior civil servant in the country – when Ms Truss took over but instead Simon Case was kept in the post.
Mr Bowler has spent much of his career at the Treasury, including working under Sir Tom, with past briefs as director general for public spending and director general for tax and welfare.
He also served as principal private secretary to both Lord Darling and Gordon Brown when they were chancellor, as well as more recently playing a senior role in the Covid-19 taskforce.
So many years at the Treasury would normally be seen as a plus for the role, but it could also be a weakness as Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng look for a break with the past.
The third candidate believed to be in the running is Tamara Finkelstein, the permanent secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the department once led
by Ms Truss. The Prime Minister and her daughters have a running joke about the tea servers at Defra being the best in Whitehall.
Ms Finkelstein, 55, has Treasury experience – she began her career there as an economist and has written
speeches for past chancellors – and also wider Whitehall experience.
She was director general for community care at the Department of Health and Social Care, meaning she has an appreciation for the steep financial challenges faced by the NHS.
The sacking of Sir Tom, who headed the Treasury for six years, has triggered a fierce public debate among former senior civil servants and ex-ministers.
Some have chastised the new Prime Minister and Chancellor for sacking such a prominent civil servant; others have praised the action as in line with Ms Truss’s Tory leadership campaign promise of a new approach to economic management.
Picking a successor is complicated by the fact that Mr Case will remain as Cabinet Secretary, having become the youngest ever occupant of the role under Boris Johnson.
Ms Romeo was interviewed as a rival candidate to Mr Case when he first got the job, while Mr Bowler was said to be in the running to succeed if Mr Case was moved on by Ms Truss.
Sir Tom was sacked just hours after Mr Kwarteng was appointed Chancellor on the day Ms Truss formally became Prime Minister earlier this month.