Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Antonia Romeo has been appointed as Cabinet Secretary, making her the first woman to take on the most senior civil service position.
She will succeed Chris Wormald, who recently became the third member of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s team to leave Government after a row over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to the United States. Romeo has worked in several Government departments, most recently permanent secretary at the interior ministry. Starmer said Romeo was an “outstanding public servant” and he had been “impressed by her professionalism and determination to get things done”.
“Antonia has shown she is the right person to drive the government to reform,” he said. Her appointment, effective immediately, comes after the BBC earlier reported that she had faced allegations of bullying behaviour from several people from the time when she was a senior diplomat in New York.
Prior to her appointment, the prime minister’s spokesperson said there had been one formal complaint raised nine years ago, “and the allegations were dismissed on the basis there was no case to answer.”
