Who is Antonia Romeo? Inside the rise of Starmer’s ‘Marmite’ pick to lead UK Civil Service

Former colleagues have praised Dame Antonia as ‘dynamic’ and ‘whip smart’

Dame Antonia Romeo, Sir Keir Starmer’s controversial pick for Cabinet Secretary, is widely seen as a stark departure from her predecessors.

Downing Street regards her as a "disrupter", with her appointment signalling the Prime Minister’s intent to "rewire" Whitehall and accelerate policy targets.

As the first woman in the role, Dame Antonia also possesses a public profile – including connections with figures like Dame Joanna Lumley and Alexa Chung – which some perceive as clashing with Whitehall’s traditionally anonymous character.

However, Dave Penman, head of the FDA civil servants’ union, told the Press Association that senior officials with such influence should, in fact, be more visible.

“It’s incompatible that people don’t know who she is or what she’s about – she needs a profile,” he said.

Asked about suggestions she had a tendency for self-promotion, Mr Penman said much of the briefing against her had been misogynistic.

Prime Minister Theresa May arrives to speak to American business leaders accompanied by the British Consul General, Antonia Romeo in New York in 2016 (Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

“So what? If she was a man people would be saying, ‘Look at that – she’s ambitious’.

“A lot of the criticism of her has been misogynistic. The attributes she’s got, like ambition, would be praised if she were a man. She’s a successful, ambitious woman and a lot of people just don’t like that.”

Pointing to her time as consul-general in New York, where she hosted events including a star-studded centenary party for Vogue in her residence, he said: “She was promoting the fashion industry which is a big earner for the UK.

“That was her job and she was able to do it in a way many others wouldn’t have.”

Dame Antonia takes over from Sir Chris Wormald, a career civil servant with decades of experience in the Westminster system who stepped down last week as Sir Keir sought to shake up his Downing Street operation amid the Peter Mandelson scandal.

She has an MA in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University, an MSc in economics from London School of Economics, and worked in the private sector at consultancy firm Oliver Wyman.

King Charles III greets the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Antonia Romeo at Buckingham Palace in London (Aaron Chown/PA Wire)

She had a rapid rise through the Civil Service after joining in 2000, starting as an economist and holding a number of senior positions across different departments, including most recently as permanent secretary in the Home Office.

Former colleagues have praised Dame Antonia as “dynamic” and “whip smart”, though some have described her as a “Marmite” figure who divides opinion.

Others in Westminster have expressed scepticism about her suitability for the role after she faced allegations of bullying related to her time in New York.

Her use of expenses, including reportedly claiming for a last-minute flight to London where she later attended the Baftas, has also been called into question.

The BBC reported she was spoken to about her management style after the complaints, but she was cleared by the Cabinet Office and the Government has said there was no case to answer.

A Government spokesperson said that “for a short transition period in 2017, while she was acting as both consul-general in New York and permanent secretary for the Department for International Trade in London, Antonia incurred travel, accommodation and other costs, under an agreed arrangement”.

Dame Antonia Romeo has been appointed Cabinet Secretary by the Prime Minister

She “suggested paying some of these back and did so”, they said, adding that “this was entirely within standard process and agreed at the time”.

Lord Simon McDonald, who was Dame Antonia’s boss at the Foreign Office, publicly urged the Government to ensure due diligence in vetting candidates for the role after she was widely tipped as the frontrunner earlier this month.

In a highly unusual intervention, he appeared on Channel 4 News to warn: “If the candidate mentioned in the media is the one, in my view, the due diligence has some way still to go.”

Mr Penman said Lord McDonald’s remarks were “outrageous” and “unfair”, adding: “Lord McDonald knows that as an existing civil servant Antonia Romeo can’t defend herself.” The Government says she went through an “enhanced due diligence process” for the role.

Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect union for civil servants, said he looked forward to working with Dame Antonia but warned that officials could only be “partners in reform” if “key barriers, such as pay progression for specialists, are acknowledged and addressed”.

“This should be at the top of the Cabinet Secretary’s inbox,” he said.

Giving a TedX talk as part of a series on “Whitehall Women” in 2017, Dame Antonia gave a sense of her thoughts on how leadership should work.

“The one thing that great leaders always do is they take organisations and people to places that they wouldn’t have got to otherwise, and that’s how you can spot them,” she said.

Where her appointment takes the Starmer Government next remains to be seen.