UK’s top civil servant Sir Chris Wormald to leave Downing Street
The UK's most senior civil servant Sir Chris Wormald is set to leave Number 10, Downing Street has confirmed.
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Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald - who is also head of the Civil Service, announced his departure in a statement on Thursday.
It follows a string of Downing Street resignations, including two of Starmer's top officials - Downing Street Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney on Sunday, and executive director of communications Tim Allan on Monday.
The departures follow the ongoing fallout over Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador following the release of the Epstein files.
Downing Street went no to confirm that the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary's parting of ways was "by mutual consent".
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In a statement on Thursday, the Prime Minister said: "I am very grateful to Sir Chris for his long and distinguished career of public service, spanning more than 35 years, and for the support that he has given me over the past year."
"I have agreed with him that he will step down as Cabinet Secretary today. I wish him the very best for the future."
In a statement Sir Chris Wormald, said: "It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as a civil servant for the past 35 years, and a particular distinction to lead the Service as Cabinet Secretary.
"I want to place on record my sincere thanks to the extraordinary civil servants, public servants, ministers, and advisers I have worked with.
"Our country is fortunate to have such dedicated individuals devoted to public service, and I wish them every success for the future."
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer thanked his ‘strong’ and ‘united’ Cabinet after he clung to his position as PM over his handling of the Mandelson scandal earlier this week.
In a speech on Tuesday, he insisted he would "never walk away from the country I love".
For an interim period, Catherine Little CB, Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office, Dame Antonia Romeo, Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, and James Bowler CB, Permanent Secretary at His Majesty’s Treasury will share the role.
"The Prime Minister will appoint a new Cabinet Secretary shortly," Number 10 added.
It comes as Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership had been granted a "stay of execution", remaining adamant that his position was still in jeopardy despite surviving the immediate threat to his leadership.
“I’ve got a lot of questions to ask him, but he is in a very dangerous place. The Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the quiet bit out loud,“ she said on Tuesday.
"Labour MPs and the Labour Party have lost confidence in their leader, but the MPs are too scared of losing their jobs, so they’re not going to call an election, and they’ve given him a stay of execution."