Politics
Antonia Romeo named Cabinet Secretary amid bullying allegations
Keir Starmer has now — 19 February — appointed Antonia Romeo, formerly a senior diplomat in New York, as the next leader of the UK civil service. She’s the first woman ever to hold the position of Cabinet Secretary.
However, the rumours of the appointment also brought numerous previous allegations of bullying against Romeo back into the spotlight.
Somewhat predictably, this has led to warring factions among the upper echelons of the UK’s professional political gossipmongers. Either Antonia Romeo is a forceful and gifted leader attacked by rampant misogynists, or else a serial bully at the center of a Home Office coverup.
Without further ado, let’s go wallow in the mud, shall we?
‘Doing the due diligence’
The furor kicked off last week, with ex-head of diplomatic service Simon McDonald’s appearance on Channel 4 News. McDonald stated that:
Due diligence is vitally important, the Prime Minister has recent bitter experience of doing the due diligence too late. It would be an unnecessary tragedy to repeat that mistake… if [Romeo] is the one, in my view, the due diligence has some way still to go.
Fighting words, given that the other recent example of Starmer’s failed diligence is Epstein’s mate/Labour peer Peter Mandelson.
However, the government has claimed repeatedly that the investigation into the single complaint against Romeo has already been closed. Matthew Rycroft, ex-UK representative to the UN, and Rupert McNeil, former head of human resources, both made this ‘single complaint’ claim.
The three allegations in the complaint, which relate to bullying and the misuse of expenses, apparently had “no case to answer”.
Several ex-officials who worked alongside Romeo called the Cabinet Office’s ‘single complaint’ story “disingenuous”. Rather, sources told the BBC that several individuals lodged complaints against the former diplomat during her stint in New York.
Cue the political muck-raking/ Home Office coverup, depending on your vantage point.
Antonia Romeo — ’25-year record’
The new Cabinet Secretary certainly doesn’t lack for admirers. Even the colleagues who voiced complaints also acknowledged her as “smart, dynamic and really talented” and an “extremely intelligent, innovative thinker”. Starmer himself gave a glowing review:
outstanding public servant, with a 25‑year record of delivering for the British people […]
Since becoming prime minister, I’ve been impressed by her professionalism and determination to get things done.
Robert Buckland, a former colleague at the Department for Justice, said of Romeo:
I think she is an extremely impressive person. She’s not a conventional backroom figure; she’s not scared of publicly projecting herself, but that shouldn’t be a block on her becoming first female cabinet secretary.
She confounds some of the old nostrums of the civil service. Seen not heard, be aware of the hierarchy. As a politician, I didn’t have time for that. Running a department during Covid, I needed flat structures and quick decisions.
Addressing the allegations against Romeo directly, Dave Penman — FDA (civil servant’s union) general secretary — told the House magazine that:
[Romeo is] an ambitious woman who doesn’t mind a bit of publicity. A lot of underlying rumours around her are an example of sexist, misogynistic culture. Lord McDonald’s talk around vetting is nonsense. She’s been vetted within an inch of her life already; she can see documents that cabinet ministers don’t have access to.
‘The allegations were dismissed’
However, it should be noted that those allegations were serious enough that the government flew Tim Hitchens — ex-ambassador to Japan — to New York to investigate. Hitchens looked into accusations of:
bullying behaviour, financial probity, and putting her private objectives above those of the wider Consulate-General or government.
However, the BBC revealed that the reported “no case to answer” statement referred to the accusations of expense irregularities. On the contrary, there was indeed a case to answer for Romeo regarding her bullying behaviour.
A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office stated that:
Antonia Romeo is an outstanding leader with 25 years of public service. She has been appointed to three different Permanent Secretary roles and has led hundreds of thousands of public servants to deliver for governments of all stripes.
As we have repeatedly said, one formal complaint was raised nine years ago which was thoroughly investigated. The allegations were dismissed on the basis that there was no case to answer.
It is entirely inappropriate to resurface dismissed HR proceedings almost a decade later.
Antonia Romeo — ‘Very demanding, very disrespectful, very threatening’
In a survey covering a year including 3 months of Antonia Romeo’s tenure in New York, 47% of staff reported bullying in the workplace. Comparable surveys would normally report bullying levels below 10%.
In documents seen by the BBC, plaintiffs described Romeo as being “unreasonable”, “degrading”, and “demeaning” towards staff.
The majority of the complaints came from other women, with one individual branding Romeo:
very demanding, very disrespectful, very threatening.
And also adding that:
I’m used to big egos but this was something else. The minute she heard the word ‘no’ she’d say I’ll go to your boss. But it was worse than that. She would go to your boss’s boss and your boss’s boss’s boss.
Another source stated:
If you don’t say ‘yes’ to her she’s not only going to screw your career, but she’ll screw all of those around you.
Yet another accuser charged Romeo with being overly self-promoting:
She’s a diplomat, not a D-list celebrity. My 15-year-old, social-media-obsessed, brother is less shameless in his self-promotion.
Likewise, one member of staff stated that Romeo had them:
frame articles in Vogue and the New Yorker about her and place them in the Residence guest bathroom directly in the line of sight at all angles so that regardless of, um, how you use the bathroom, you have to stare at a photo of her in a magazine spread staring back at you.
‘Selective excerpts’
Regarding the renewed attention to the complaint documents, a Whitehall spokesperson stated that:
The fact that selective excerpts are now being resurfaced, almost a decade on, to substantiate vexatious anonymous briefings from disgruntled individuals is frankly unconscionable.
So, there’s your whistle-stop tour of praise and criticism of the new leader of the UK civil service. Of course, even if she does turn out to be a bully of the highest order, she’d probably fit right in with the pack of tax-dodgers, expenses-fiddlers, genocide-defenders, and bigots that make up the current UK government. Watch this space.
Featured image via the Canary