When Simon Case was named as cabinet secretary in September 2020 he became, at the age of 41, the youngest appointee in more than 100 years. He will probably earn another distinction soon: the youngest ex-cabinet secretary in history. In Westminster, some say his departure is a question of when not if. Should he go this year, to allow a successor time to bed in, or wait until after the next election?
Case arrived at No. 10 in the middle of a pandemic, having never run a government department but boasting a PhD on Whitehall machinery written under the supervision of Peter Hennessy, Britain’s foremost living political historian and exponent of the ‘good chap’ theory of government. This holds that the letter of the rules is less important than the system being run by players who understand their spirit. But what happens when ‘good chaps’ serve a master who doesn’t play by the rules?
Case’s ‘original sin’, according to his defenders, was ‘being young and talented and promoted to that job before he was grey’. More accurately, his sin was being young, talented and promoted by Boris Johnson. Within months of his arrival, Case was embroiled in unorthodox schemes such as a plan to have a private donor pay for Downing Street’s refurbishments. His involvement in Richard Sharp’s nomination for chairman of the BBC remains a source of ongoing controversy, as does his knowledge of allegations about the conduct of Dominic Raab and Nadhim Zahawi.
Case previously served as Prince William’s private secretary. And it’s the charge of ‘courtier’ that has been flung at him as he has sought to balance the demands of being both cabinet secretary and the head of the civil service. Too often, his critics claim, he has served the ‘king’ at the expense of the country.
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