She’s anything but the traditional stuffy Whitehall mandarin in the mould of Sir Humphrey Appleby in TV’s Yes Minister.
Britain’s new top civil servant, Dame Antonia Romeo, 51, might even seem a surprising choice as the new cabinet secretary – the first woman to do the job – for a prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, who’s accused of being dull and conventional.
While Dame Antonia was a diplomat in New York, she attended and hosted lavish parties with celebs including Ab Fab star Joanna Lumley, publishers Rupert Murdoch and Anna Wintour, top fashion models and designers such as Calvin Klein and the now-disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Politics latest: First woman appointed as head of the civil service
She’s controversial because of allegations, investigated by the Cabinet Office and dismissed with “no case to answer”, of bullying and questionable expenses claims, including private school fees for her children and a last-minute flight to attend the BAFTA awards.
The boss of the top civil servants’ union, Dave Penman, blamed “misogyny” for the allegations and claimed she was targeted because she was a “female candidate with a profile” and an “outgoing, dynamic” personality.
Dame Antonia Romeo. Pic :HM Government
There have been other barbs, though. A role as the Civil Service’s gender champion, after setting up Whitehall’s “gender equality leadership group”, earned her the nickname “the Queen of Woke”.
She certainly has an impressive CV, which is even longer than her full name, Dame Antonia Rebecca Caroline Angharad Catherine Romeo. In fact, her romantic surname is her married name. She was born Antonia Rice-Evans.
She has been the top civil servant, the permanent secretary, in three large government departments, International Trade, the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office, where she has been in charge since April last year.
She may be seen as unorthodox and unconventional, but she has the traditional background for a top Whitehall mandarin, Westminster public school and then PPE, politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford University.
She did not join the civil service immediately after university, though, instead working for three years as a business consultant. But once she did, first at the Lord Chancellor’s Department and then the Department of Constitutional Affairs, she was soon a high-flyer and her ascent was swift.
Dame Antonia presenting the King and Queen with the Coronation Roll at Buckingham Palace in 2024. Pic: PA
Back at the Lord Chancellor’s department, she was principal private secretary – Bernard Woolley in Yes Minister – to Charlie Falconer in Tony Blair’s government and then Jack Straw when Gordon Brown was PM.
Further promotions came fast. In David Cameron’s Coalition government, she worked for Tory minister Francis Maude in the Cabinet Office, then back to the Justice ministry and again back to the Cabinet Office.
Then came the diplomatic posts in New York, where she earned her reputation for the party lifestyle, before becoming the top mandarin at International Trade under Liam Fox.
Then it was back to Justice and the top job, under five secretaries of state, Tories Robert Buckland, Dominic Raab (twice), Brandon Lewis and Alex Chalk, and Labour’s Shabana Mahmood, before the Home Office under Yvette Cooper and Mahmood again.
As well as her glittering, if controversial career, Romeo is president of the Whitehall Choir, said to be one of London’s leading amateur choirs.
And after the brutal way cabinet secretary Sir Chris Wormald has been ousted by the PM after just over a year in the job, she will be hoping to sing from the same hymn sheet as Sir Keir.
Or his successor, of course.
