Guido exclusively reported in last week’s members-only Labour Wars column that there is real frustration in government levelled at Starmer’s personal SpAd/minister Darren Jones. The ‘Chief Secretary to the PM’ is derided as smug and ineffective – a Downing Street source reports he is “actively harming the business of government”…
Talk around Whitehall is that the chaotic Cabinet Office – now overseen by Jones – is worse than ever. About 80% of government matters that don’t fit neatly into a department is handled by the CO…
Guido hears Whitehall’s chief fixer Louise Casey is intensely frustrated at the situation. Insider sources say the top personnel are to blame: Darren Jones, Permanent Secretary Catherine Little, Second Permanent Secretary Clara Swinson, and Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald. Wormald in particular has been at the end of a barrage of criticism…
Senior government sources bemoan Wormald’s continued presence in the job as well as the departures of ex-Deputy National Security Adviser Jonathan Black, and ex-Propriety and Constitution Director Darren Tierney, who left last year. Starmer – now gallivanting in China – has so far done nothing…
A Downing Street source tells Guido that Starmer is sleepwalking on the issue because “the foreign policy element works” while the department’s domestic functions get even worse. Things are coming to a head for Wormald – his obvious replacements Home Office permanent secretary Antonia Romeo or the FCDO’s Olly Robbins are circling…
