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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
Keir Starmer’s government is facing a clash with the civil service union after ministers briefed against Whitehall’s top mandarin.
Dave Penman, the general secretary for the Association of First Division Civil Servants (FDA), has reacted with fury to briefings about cabinet secretary Simon Case.
The Independent revealed how senior ministers have told Sir Keir that he needs to remove Mr Case immediately accusing him of “poisoning the well of government”.
The finger has been pointed at Mr Case over briefings against Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray with whom he had a difficult relationship when she was a senior civil servant.
While the prime minister’s spokesperson has said he is satisfied that Mr Case was not responsible for the briefings, ministers have warned he needs to go now rather than in 12 weeks time as currently planned.
But Mr Penman signalled that the briefings by ministers could lead to a clash with the union.
He said: “As every government minister knows, civil servants are constitutionally unable to defend themselves. It’s so disappointing to see Labour ministers fall into the trap of attacking those whose sole job is to serve the government of the day.”
The prime minister decided to keep Mr Case on initially in July because he wanted a smooth transition; it was already a difficult time with Labour taking over for the first time in almost 15 years. But less than three months in many ministers have already had enough.
The Labour conference in Liverpool has seen ministers besieged by internal squabbles, briefings and revelations about gifts and freebies. Their frustration has seen demands for a clearout in Downing Street but also a change at the top of the civil service.
One exasperated cabinet minister said: “He [Case] has got to go now.”
One minister accused Mr Case of “poisoning the well of government” and said his planned departure from government must “be done now with immediate effect to show Keir’s authority and to stop the damage and distraction”.
Another minister told The Independent they have personally raised their concerns with the prime minister and said Mr Case “really should go now”.
Others consider Mr Case’s relationship with Ms Gray to be too corrosive and have accused him of briefing against Ms Gray.
“Case is scheduled to leave at the end of the year having been forced earlier to take six weeks leave, but another 12 weeks of infighting is not viable,” said one insider.
Others believe Mr Case should have been ousted with Boris Johnson over rule breaking during lockdown.
“How Case survived the Partygate scandal, has failed to unite No 10 with stability or direction and leaves every PM seemingly weaker in their mission and leadership is simply going to hurt this prime minister too,” another added.
