Dame Antonia Romeo is Britain's cabinet secretary, appointed by Keir Starmer in February 2026 to replace Sir Chris Wormald, who was ousted on February 12th after little over a year in the role. No previous cabinet secretary has been appointed to such controversy.
Before becoming cabinet secretary, Dame Antonia served as Britain's consul-general in New York in 2016-17, during which time she faced allegations of bullying and improper use of expenses. A Cabinet Office inquiry found "no case to answer", but Sir Simon McDonald, a former head of the Foreign Office, attempted to block the appointment, declaring that "the due diligence has some way still to go."
The biggest disaster of her career was the botched privatisation of the probation service, a scheme driven through clear warnings that it might fail.
Her supporters and critics agree that she is adept at embracing her ministers' agendas and willing to be abrasive in pursuit of them. On taking office she sent a 576-word memo to senior civil servants written in the imperative mood, with "delivery and results" as item one. "Focus intensely on getting stuff done, taking the initiative, and achieving outcomes," she wrote. "I will back you when you take appropriate risks and make difficult calls. That is the deal."
She is an enthusiast for using technology to transform Whitehall: in her new office a copy of "The Thinking Machine", a profile of Nvidia by Stephen Witt, was found alongside the works of Peter Hennessy, a historian of Whitehall.
The role of cabinet secretary combines two frictional ideas of the civil service: that it is there to serve ministers, but also to speak "truth to power" in the national interest. Dame Antonia's appointment is seen as a gamble by Keir Starmer, whose administration has been stalling, with policies agreed and left to drift. Critics question whether she is sufficiently candid with her bosses; supporters argue she has a knack for turning politicians' vague aspirations into enumerated plans and following them up ruthlessly.
In order to discover who you are, first learn who everybody else is; you're what's left.