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Simon Case, the UK’s most senior civil servant, has announced he is stepping down as cabinet secretary at the end of the year as he receives treatment for a “neurological condition”.
Case’s job was immediately advertised with a £200,000 salary, and his replacement will play a key part in efforts by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to reset his misfiring Labour administration.
Case was appointed cabinet secretary in 2020 by former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson and had long said that he intended to step aside in early 2025 for medical reasons.
But his continued presence in Downing Street after Starmer’s sweeping election victory in July was seen by some officials as adding to the sense of uncertainty and drift at the heart of government.
Case has insisted to friends that he had a good working relationship with Sue Gray, Starmer’s chief of staff, despite reports of tensions. But his decision to announce his departure on Monday came sooner than some in the centre of government had expected.
Allies of Case said he had intended to announce he was stepping down in October after the party conference season. Instead, the news came on the second day of the Tory conference in Birmingham.
The issue came to a head after he spoke to Starmer over the weekend. Both agreed it was vital to sort out his departure timetable swiftly, according to one friend of Case.
“Simon just felt that he had to clear things up and he just feels he can’t physically keep going seven days a week much longer,” they said.
The successful candidate to replace Case will be in charge of 500,000 civil servants and will also play a key role as a principal adviser to the prime minister. They are expected to start work in early 2025.
Among the candidates likely to be in the running are Sir Olly Robbins, Britain’s former Brexit negotiator who worked closely with Gray earlier in his career and has privately expressed an interest in the job.
Robbins is a partner at Hakluyt, a consultancy founded by ex-MI6 intelligence officers. Starmer recently poached Hakluyt’s managing partner Varun Chandra as his business adviser.
Other names seen as potential candidates include Dame Antonia Romeo, permanent secretary at the justice department, and Dame Melanie Dawes, head of the media regulator Ofcom. However, Dawes has indicated to friends she is happy in her current job.
In a letter to civil service colleagues, Case said he had been undergoing medical treatment for a “neurological condition” over the past 18 months. “Whilst the spirit remains willing, the body is not,” he said.
Case, whose original appointment was championed by ex-Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings, said his decision was solely to do with his health and not with anything else: “It is a shame that I feel I have to spell this out.”
The outgoing cabinet secretary was at the helm of the civil service during the “Partygate” scandal in Whitehall, which led to several officials — but not Case himself — being fined for participating in illegal lockdown events during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Relations between Case and Gray were strained at that time. Gray, then a senior civil servant, was tasked with conducting a report into the scandal. She later left the civil service to join Starmer’s team in opposition.
Lord Peter Hain, a Labour peer, on Monday reflected a suspicion in Labour circles that Case was complicit in negative briefings about Gray. Commenting on Case’s looming departure, he said on X: “About time too having presided over partygate and knifing the new Labour Government.”
That claim was vehemently denied by a person close to Case who said it was “complete and utter rubbish”. Labour officials also insisted that Gray and Case had worked well together.
Case said in his resignation letter that it had been an honour to serve two sovereigns, four prime ministers and more than 120 cabinet ministers in his role. He added: “There have been far more ups than downs along the way.”
He added that the civil service had to adapt to a fast-changing world and urged his colleagues to remain above the political fray.
“We should resist the temptation to become the arbiters of, or participants in, legitimate democratic debate, leaving party politics to politicians,” he wrote.
