Starmer urged to give key role to outsider
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 John Lewis chair Sharon White, a former chief executive of Ofcom, is thought to be on the shortlist to lead the civil service, along with Minouche Shafik, a former president of Columbia University in New York. However, others in No 10 are wary of those suggested.
Oliver Robbins, the former Brexit negotiator who had been close to Starmer’s chief of staff, Sue Gray, had been long tipped for the job but is now in the frame for national security adviser.
Others within the civil service 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 potential candidates. Starmer is yet to meet any candidates.
One source said that 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 currently outsiders to the civil service.
She recently left her job at Columbia University in New York over 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 drive 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.”