Sir Chris Wormald stands down as head of Civil Service

Sir Chris Wormald has stood down as the head of the Civil Service and cabinet secretary.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who only appointed Sir Chris to the role in December 2024, said he was grateful "for the support he has given me over the past year".

The Cabinet Office said the move was "by mutual agreement" but it follows months of negative media reports suggesting Downing Street was unhappy with his performance.

His responsibilities will be shared by Catherine Little, permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, Dame Antonia Romeo, permanent secretary at the Home Office and James Bowler, permanent secretary at the Treasury for an interim period.

The government's favoured successor is Dame Antonia, who was on the four-person shortlist for the role when Sir Chris was appointed.

However, on Wednesday evening Lord McDonald, the former head of the Foreign Office, told Channel 4 News that if this was the case then "in my view, the due diligence has some way still to go".

He called for a "full process" to appoint a new cabinet secretary that "starts from scratch".

This has been interpreted as a reference to an investigation Dame Antonia faced over allegations about her spending in 2017 when she was the government's consul-general in New York, and Lord McDonald was her boss.

In response to Lord McDonald's interview, a cabinet office spokesperson said: "There is absolutely no basis for this criticism.

⁠"Antonia Romeo is a highly respected permanent secretary with a 25-year record of excellent public service.

"The allegations all come from a single grievance made some time ago by a former employee. All the allegations were dismissed on the basis there was no case to answer."

Sir Keir has promised to tighten up vetting for senior roles, after the appointments of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador and Lord Doyle as a peer, despite their links to convicted sex offenders.