Is time running out for Simon Case?

Is Simon Case on borrowed time? That’s the talk in Whitehall today following reports that the embattled Cabinet Secretary is considering an early departure from his role. The Financial Times reports that the UK’s most senior civil servant has told friends he is ‘genuinely undecided’ between staying put ahead of the general election or stepping aside to make way for a successor.

Making matters worse, this isn’t exactly Case’s first scandal

There are plenty of figures who would prefer it to be the latter of the two. Case has attracted criticism both from Tory MPs and his own side over WhatsApp messages he sent to Matt Hancock during the pandemic. Released as part of the Telegraph’s Lockdown Files, Case referred to opposition to Covid restrictions as ‘pure Conservative ideology’, suggested Sunak’s questioning of restrictions on businesses was ‘bonkers’ and found the idea of well-heeled travellers being put in hotel quarantine ‘hilarious’.

Tory MPs complain that Case has become too political a figure to continue while civil servants think he is at best unprofessional and naive.