Starmer urged to appoint ‘mould-breaking’ outsider as civil service head

Keir Starmer is being privately urged to appoint a new cabinet secretary from outside the civil service who can “break the mould” of the traditional role, as internal battles continue over Simon Case’s replacement.

The outgoing chair of the John Lewis Partnership, Sharon White, who is also a former chief executive of Ofcom, is thought to be among the favourites to head the civil service, along with Minouche Shafik, a former president of Columbia University in New York. However, there are others in No 10 who are wary of the outsiders who have been tipped.

Oliver Robbins, the former Brexit negotiator who had been close to Starmer’s chief of staff, Sue Gray, had long been tipped for the job but is now in the frame for national security adviser.

Others within the civil service who have been named by insiders as contenders are Tamara Finkelstein, the permanent secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Jeremy Pocklington, the permanent secretary at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

A Whitehall source said the process of recruiting a new cabinet secretary had gone beyond initial conversations with Gray to more advanced discussions with candidates. Starmer is yet to meet any candidates.

One source said Shafik, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England and former permanent secretary at the Department for International Development, was a strong contender among those who are outsiders to the civil service.

She recently left her job at Columbia after controversy about its handling of Gaza protests. One Whitehall source said there was concern there would be “significant baggage” attached to a number of potential outside candidates.

Starmer attended permanent secretary meetings while he was director of public prosecutions and is familiar with many of the candidates, several sources with knowledge of the process said.

But one ally of Starmer said there was a strong internal view that the candidate had to be prepared to push through reforms. “We don’t need more secretive civil service shenanigans,” they said. “We need someone who can drive forward change.”

Alex Thomas, an expert at the Institute for Government thinktank, said: “I’d be very surprised if the job went to someone who had never been a previous permanent secretary or a very senior civil servant. But certainly there is a clutch of strong candidates who are no longer permanent secretaries. If they want the strongest possible field, which they should, they should go outside as well.”

The last time the cabinet secretary job was advertised within the civil service those in the running ended up including Charles Roxburgh, a former second permanent secretary at the Treasury, and Antonia Romeo, now the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice.

Boris Johnson subsequently picked Simon Case, a former royal aide who had also been a permanent secretary at No 10. There is no firm process for choosing a cabinet secretary, but it must be “on merit on the basis of fair and open competition” according to the 2010 Constitutional Reform and Governance Act, and must not be a political appointment.

The cabinet manual says it is an appointment made by the prime minister on the advice of the outgoing cabinet secretary, and the first civil service commissioner, which is currently Gisela Stuart.

Last time, the civil service commissioner invited former and current permanent secretaries to apply, with a panel whittling down the list. The prime minister would then be likely to decide from a shortlist of approved candidates.

Case is expected to leave his role in January but there has been no formal announcement amid alleged poor relations between the cabinet secretary and other Downing Street officials, including Gray.

Case is expected to say he intends to leave in the new year owing to health reasons. Once the departure date is fixed, a formal process can begin, with the involvement of the Civil Service Commission. The Guardian previously reported that senior figures in No 10 are very keen to kickstart the process.