What qualities are needed in Simon Case's successor as cabinet secretary?

Simon Case has announced he will be stepping down as cabinet secretary, having served during an extraordinary and often very difficult period of British government. While he emphasised that health reasons were behind his decision to step down, there is no shame in recognising that it is time to go, and to do so at a time when there is a strong field to succeed Case as the country’s top civil servant.

Who that should now be is a question for the prime minister and the panel appointed to manage the recruitment. Interestingly that group includes Sharon White, ruled out now as a candidate for the job herself, and former cabinet secretary Gus O’Donnell. He is a man who knows the job, and the candidates, better than most. This new more open process is welcome and will help to find the best candidate – though the panel will need to be careful not to allow their familiarity with the field to bias their recommendations.

The prime minister and panel should keep in mind two questions: what are the demands of the moment? And what does a successful cabinet secretary need to do to meet them?

The new government needs an authoritative cabinet secretary to set civil service direction

This is a new government, rocking slightly and showing the need for authority and grip at the centre, but with a strong mandate and a new mission-based policy programme. It will be the next head of the civil service who must help shape and deliver the programme and match Starmer’s ambitions for a different way of doing government.

They also need to follow up new ministers’ rhetoric resetting relationships with the civil service, building on welcome early speeches to staff promising a more professional and respectful environment in government departments and early signs that ministers are keen to review evidence and analysis before making big decisions.

On the civil service side this must be accompanied by leadership showing what civil servants are there to do, the opportunities offered by success, and by addressing some of its chronic problems, like high staff churn, diminished subject expertise, uneven performance management and a culture that can be too closed and insular.

Recent years have also damaged confidence in the quality and craft of governing, the ability of ministers and civil servants to match political and presentational demands with evidence and achievement, and to recognise and grapple with trade-offs. As the leader of the civil service the next cabinet secretary will need to be at the forefront of the essential task of addressing that unease.

Leading the civil service and rebuilding trust will be essential

Above all the next cabinet secretary needs to gain the trust of half a million civil servants and the respect of their permanent secretaries. The successful candidate will need to be a system leader, able to set direction and build the confidence of the civil service, while being honest about its weaknesses. O’Donnell when he was cabinet secretary led a series of successful ‘capability reviews’ to assess the performance of departments – his presence on the panel suggests candidates would be wise to propose something similar. Such reviews should be the platform for a consistent programme of civil service improvement and reform.

Whoever is appointed will also, of course, need the trust and confidence of the prime minister. The civil service is impartial, not independent, and its head needs to be in service of the government’s agenda. They will need to understand what Starmer and his cabinet want to achieve, and to demonstrate that they are the best person to help them achieve it. Just as importantly they will need the clout to give unwelcome advice and to suggest alternative courses of action when necessary.

That is not an easy combination of skills, but if there is a strong relationship of trust between Starmer and his cabinet secretary then honest advice becomes in service of the government, not in resistance to it.

Some ‘realpolitik’ skills help survive in the centre of government

Whoever succeeds as cabinet secretary will need sharp enough elbows to survive the sometimes treacherous environment in a prime minister’s court. No.10 and the Cabinet Office are not normal working environments and Case’s successor will need to master the ‘big P’ politics of the prime minister and his cabinet as well as the no less complex ‘small p’ politics of leading a group of permanent secretaries, all with their personal histories, ambitions and rivalries, to coherently deliver the government’s agenda.

This is difficult, demanding, and all-consuming job – which, unlike most civil servants, comes with a sometimes uncomfortable public profile. So, who would want to take it on? Encouragingly a strong cast of candidates is emerging. The prime minister needs to make the right appointment so that whoever is chosen has the experience, authority and dynamism to rebuild the civil service.