One of the strongest predictions before the release of Sue Gray’s report was that Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, would do “the honorable thing” and resign. As it turned out, he didn’t.
By contrast, Case and the entire No. 10 first team seem to have avoided any sanctions or even reprimands, and it’s fair to say that not everyone is happy, especially the junior officers, dozens of whom were fined.
Unions and former senior officials have told The Guardian of the intense anger over those senior officials who do nothing to stop the often drunken, and sometimes messy, social gatherings described in Gray’s report, with no consequences.
While anger is directed at senior officials in general, it is a particularly difficult position for Case, the UK’s top official. youngest cabinet since 1916 and one of the least. experienced.
Case appears briefly in Gray’s report and was not fined. But there is a feeling that he and the other leaders should have given more advantage.
Mike Clancy, the general secretary of the Prospect union, which represents more junior officials, said the culture exposed by Gray showed “a No. 10 bubble that has been approved by senior leadership.” He added: “Under any other leadership, the Sue Gray report should be a source of reflection for the Prime Minister and the top leaders around them.”
Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS union, was even more forceful and said it was “outrageous for those who establish the culture to escape uncensored Sue Gray’s report while junior staff are paying the price.”
A senior official told the Guardian that the events set out in Gray’s report reflected very badly on Case, saying senior officials knew what was going on, but that “they have found reasons to justify it when they should not have done so. ‘to have done’.
“Everything seems exceptional: they just checked each other out, and everything was a bit justified. No one backed down and said, ‘I know how much you want this event and how hard you’ve worked, but you have to wait, like everyone else.’ ”.
The lack of sanction against Case was not, however, surprising, they added. “He has joined the hip with the Prime Minister. If Simon Case had left, this would have completely exposed Johnson. He is a shield. How could you take action against him, when he was not fined, and not the Prime Minister, who was fine? ” Even before Gray’s report came out, many in Whitehall reported Case’s conduct to the entire Partygate, even having to withdraw from directing the investigation, due to a Christmas contest organized by his office. , was unforgivable.
“I can’t imagine the circumstances during my time in the civil service where if someone said it was against the law, we wouldn’t have said, ‘Very fair, we don’t do it,'” said another former official. “Case should have resigned immediately. Here is a catastrophic failure of the senior civil service.”
But some believe that a dramatic fall into disgrace would be undeserved. A former employee who knew Case from his job at Buckingham Palace said they had watched in horror the scandals that engulfed Downing Street.
“Simon was seen as the best and brightest, very excited,” they said. “It’s horrible how things have gone and I think part of it is how all the gold that Boris Johnson touches turns into shit.”
Case was born and educated privately in Bristol. At Cambridge University, he studied the history of intelligence services as part of his undergraduate degree and did a doctorate with the renowned political historian Peter Hennessy at Queen Mary University in London, who described that he had a “mental muscularity and an intellectual curiosity.” which was exceptional ”.
Case, who is married and has three daughters, is expected to join the security services, but in 2006 he joined the civil service, holding high-level security positions under David Cameron in the United States. number 10.
In 2015 he was lured as director of strategy at GCHQ, but it lasted less than a year before returning to Cameron as chief private secretary.
Case was reportedly close to Cameron, but less friendly with Theresa May. Underneath it, he was given another difficult job: finding a solution for the Irish border after Brexit.
In 2018, in the depths of the chaos of Brexit, Case became Prince William’s private secretary. Just over two years later, he returned to No. 10 with the most complicated summary of all: Johnson’s Cabinet Secretary, at the heart of an administration where his predecessor, Mark Sedwill, had been fired in an information war together with other Whitehall. permanent secretaries.
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Case had initially returned to the palace service commission, coordinating the coronavirus response, and initially did not apply for the job of cabinet secretary until Johnson asked him to.
“I think he would be the first to admit that he had no experience leading the system. There was a clear gap in his resume when it came to being equipped to run the civil service,” a former colleague said.
A Whitehall source described the civil service’s anger at Case as “visceral”, while another said it had been a “submarine” during several crises, never taking the opportunity to make any mistakes or give up. coverage to others except the Prime Minister.
“His biggest mistake is not to draw a dividing line with the prime minister at any time. He has never chosen a battle to defend the civil service,” he said.