Who is Antonia Romeo and why is she tipped to be the next cabinet secretary?

Antonia Romeo is not a typical civil servant, according to almost everyone who has worked with or met her in a professional context.Charming, ambitious and not afraid to publicise her own achievements, Romeo was on the shortlist to be cabinet secretary a year ago when Keir Starmer opted instead for a classic “Sir Humphrey” choice in Chris Wormald.But with Wormald now forced out, the permanent secretary of the Home Office finds herself back at the top of the list of appointable candidates and the frontrunner to succeed him.Whitehall sources said earlier this week that Romeo’s appointment was the most likely option but “not nailed on” because No 10 “still don’t know what they want”. It is understood, however, that Downing Street very much intends to appoint her, subject to the civil service commissioner’s approval of the process

Union chief calls for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer or risk Labour defeat to Reform UK

The head of a Labour-affiliated union has called for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer, warning that Starmer risks leading the party into a heavy election defeat to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.Maryam Eslamdoust, the general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), told the Guardian she wanted the former deputy prime minister to take charge after this month’s Gorton and Denton byelection.Eslamdoust is the first union leader to call openly for Rayner to oust Starmer, adding to pressure on the prime minister at the end of his most difficult week in office.She said: “I think it’s time that the Labour party had a woman leader. The Tories have had three women prime ministers and four leaders and we’ve had none

Chris Wormald forced out of post as cabinet secretary, No 10 confirms – as it happened

Downing Street has confirmed that Chris Wormald has been forced out of his post as cabinet secretary. It has issued a statement saying that Keir Starmer and Wormald have decided that Wormald “will stand down as the cabinet secretary and head of the civil service by mutual agreement from today”.No 10 has not announced his replacement, but it says that Antonia Romeo, the Home Office permanent secretary – who is reportedly the favourite to replace Wormald – will share responsibility for the job in the meantime with Catherine Little, permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, and James Bowler, permanent secretary at His Majesty’s Treasury.A new cabinet secretary will be appointed “shortly”, No 10 says.In a statement, Starmer said:I am very grateful to Sir Chris for his long and distinguished career of public service, spanning more than 35 years, and for the support that he has given me over the past year

Jeane Freeman obituary

Jeane Freeman, who has died aged 72, held two critical roles in the SNP government at Holyrood, leading the Scottish government’s response to the Covid pandemic alongside Nicola Sturgeon and establishing Scotland’s first devolved social security system.By no means a career politician but an instinctive campaigner from the outset, she entered elected politics a decade ago, and relatively late in life, after a varied career in nursing, criminal justice and the civil service. This followed a political journey from her family’s working-class, trade-unionist roots to the progressive nationalism of the 2014 independence referendum campaign, during which she championed women’s voices and famously took on the broadcaster Andrew Neil in a viral interview about whether the union benefited Scotland’s NHS.Freeman co-founded the cross-party group Women for Independence in 2012, determined to push women’s experience to the heart of the debate that was gripping the country. Her rubric was “there’s no such thing as a stupid question”

‘Jellyfish’ and ‘doormat’: why is Keir Starmer so deeply unpopular?

In yet another confusing and chaotic period for British politics there is one thing on which just about everyone can agree: Keir Starmer is unpopular. Very, very unpopular.His net favourability rating, the difference between those who have a generally positive or negative view of the prime minister has been, depending on the pollster, anything from -50 to -57, a nadir only beaten by Liz Truss. Recent focus group descriptions of Starmer include a “jellyfish” and a “doormat”.Perhaps most strikingly, the slightly plaintive chant of “Keir Starmer’s a wanker” to the inevitable tune of Seven Nation Army has been heard not just at football stadiums but January’s world darts championship

Vetting process for Mandelson needed more awkward questions, expert says

Downing Street cannot appoint politicians or business figures to senior diplomatic posts using the same security vetting it uses to check civil servants, a former national security adviser has said.Peter Ricketts said there had to be more “awkward questions” asked of a person such as Peter Mandelson than the system allows, given “all the baggage” of his three decades in politics and business.“For that person there must surely be an even more thorough process including detailed interviews with those who have known him/her well in their previous life. That will take time,” Lord Ricketts said.Other insiders familiar with the appointment process said Mandelson’s appointment was streamlined and the reality was that Downing Street “wanted Peter to be the answer”, with informal concerns brushed off