Case Closed

Why the Cabinet Secretary is struggling so badly, and why it really matters

In the various long-running scandals that began under Boris Johnson, and continue to dog Rishi Sunak, there is a common theme: the involvement of Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.

Why did Sue Gray lead the internal inquiry into Partygate? Because Case had to recuse himself, having attended several of the parties. Who got embroiled in Richard Sharp’s attempts to provide financial advice to Johnson, while in the running for the BBC chairmanship? Who failed to stop Liz Truss firing the Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, helping to trigger last year’s economic meltdown? Who failed to intervene over Nadhim Zahawi becoming Chancellor despite knowing about an investigation into his tax affairs? Who pops up repeatedly in the leaked covid WhatsApp messages with a whole spate of inappropriate comments? Simon Case every time.

Now the Cabinet Office has got itself into a real mess over the Covid Inquiry. They established the Inquiry yet are now judicially reviewing it to avoid having to hand over documents. Experts think they will almost certainly lose the case. We can only speculate how they’ve found themselves in this sub-optimal position, given central government lawyers are usually pretty good as managing these issues, but I agree with David Allen Green that the most likely explanation is “a muddle at a more senior level in the Cabinet Office”. That’s Case’s responsibility too.

To be fair to Case he did arrive as Cabinet Secretary, in September 2020, during one of the most chaotic periods in its history, after his predecessor, Mark Sedwill, had been forced out. The pandemic was still going on, Dominic Cummings was terrorizing everyone in his vicinity, and Boris Johnson was blundering around handing out contradictory orders. Then he had to deal with the Liz Truss absurdity. It would have been difficult, perhaps impossible, for anyone to manage well.

Even so he has been hapless. I have been interviewing numerous ex-senior civil servants for my book and the unanimous contempt for Case is quite something. It’s shared by the current cadre of permanent secretaries too. The general consensus is that he only has the post because Cummings considered him biddable. He doesn’t have anywhere near the requisite experience, having never been a permanent secretary in any department. Despite that many were initially prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt, but as one former official said to me: “the way he's gone about means he’s lost the room”.

The main complaint is that he acts as a courtier within No. 10, rather than upholding the integrity of government. Instead of taking on politicians as and when necessary, he refrains from difficult conversations and offering advice they might not want to hear. This really matters. The Prime Minister of the day needs to hear those messages, or we end up with the omni-scandals of the past few years. But also because the Cabinet Secretary is head of the civil service.

In recent months there has been much discussion about the deterioration in the relationship between Ministers and officials. But less has been said about how the relationship between the civil service and its own leadership has collapsed. The two issues are closely connected. This is one reason why there has been an increase in formal complaints about Ministers, and more briefing to the press by officials. They have lost faith that Case and his top team will do anything to fix the problems.

The situation is more serious than is widely realised. A worrying number of the best officials have left in recent years, with those remaining becoming increasingly demotivated and demoralised. As several leavers have told me, their new offices are regularly visited by former colleagues seeking advice on how to get out ASAP.

The rest of this post looks at: how the role of the Cabinet Secretary has evolved over the years; how the troubles of today have been coming for a long time; how Case ended up in the job; and why him leaving wouldn’t, by itself, resolve the problem.