Simon Case hands in resignation letter

While the Conservative party conference is in full swing in Birmingham, back in Whitehall there have been some major developments. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has now formally handed in his resignation letter, with the senior civil servant circulating his departure letter to his underlings today. His announcement that he will stand down at the end of the year follows weeks of whisperings that Case didn’t quite see eye to eye with Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray – with reports that, after the recent host of bad briefings against the PM’s staffer, efforts to speed up Case’s resignation date were deployed. How very curious…

The top mandarin has told civil servants, however, that he is leaving for health reasons – not because of his rumoured beef with Gray. ‘It is a shame that I feel I have to spell this out, but my decision is solely to do with my health and nothing to do with anything else,’ he told his staff.