One of the firmest predictions before the publication of Sue Gray’s report was that Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, would “do the honourable thing” and resign. As it turned out, he did not.
Instead, Case and the entire No 10 top team appear to have avoided any sanction or even reprimand at all, and it is fair to say not everyone is happy – particularly more junior officials, dozens of whom were fined.
Unions and former senior civil servants have told the Guardian about the intense anger over such top officials doing nothing to stop the often boozy – and sometimes disorderly – social gatherings outlined in Gray’s report, without consequence.
While the ire is directed at senior officials in general, it is a particularly difficult position for Case, the UK’s top civil servant, whose move from Buckingham Palace to No 10 aged 41 made him the youngest cabinet secretary since 1916, and one of the least experienced.
Case appears just fleetingly in Gray’s report, and was not fined. But there is a sense that he and others in charge should have provided more of a lead.
Mike Clancy, the general secretary of the Prospect union, which represents more junior officials, said the culture exposed by Gray showed up “a No 10 bubble which has been condoned by the senior leadership”. He added: “Under any other leadership the Sue Gray report should be a cause for reflection for the PM and the senior leaders around them.”
Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS union, was blunter still, saying it was “outrageous that those who set the culture are getting away without censure from the Sue Gray report while junior staff are paying the price”.
One former leading civil servant told the Guardian the events set out in Gray’s report reflected very badly on Case, saying top officials knew what was happening but “found reasons to justify it when they shouldn’t have done”.
“It all feels like exceptionalism – they only ever checked with each other, and it was all a bit self-justifying. No one stood back and said: ‘I know how much you want this event, and how hard you’ve worked, but you have to wait, like everyone else.’”
The lack of sanction against Case was, however, unsurprising, they added. “He’s joined at the hip with the prime minister. If Simon Case had gone, that would completely expose Johnson. He’s a shield. How could you take action against him, when he wasn’t fined, and not the prime minister, who was fined?”Even before Gray’s report emerged, many in Whitehall said Case’s conduct throughout Partygate – even having to recuse himself from leading the inquiry because of a Christmas quiz organised by his office – was unforgivable.
“I can’t imagine the circumstances during my time in the civil service where if someone mentioned it was against the law, we would not have gone: ‘Fair point, let’s not do that,’” another former civil servant said. “Case should have resigned immediately. There is a catastrophic failure of the senior civil service here.”
But some feel that a dramatic fall from grace would be undeserved. A former staffer who knew Case from his work at Buckingham Palace said they had watched with horror at the scandals engulfing Downing Street.
“Simon was seen as the best and brightest, really hyped up,” they said. “It’s awful how things have turned out and I think part of that is just how everything golden that Boris Johnson touches turns to shit.”
Case was born and privately educated in Bristol. At university in Cambridge, he studied the history of the intelligence services as part of his undergraduate degree and did a PhD under the renowned political historian Peter Hennessy at Queen Mary University of London, who described himas having a “muscularity of mind and an intellectual curiosity which was outstanding”.
Case, who is married with three daughters, might have been expected to join the security services – but in 2006 he joined the civil service, rising to senior security roles under David Cameron in No 10.
He was lured over as director of strategy at GCHQ in 2015 but lasted less than a year before he returned to Cameron as principal private secretary.
Case was reportedly close to Cameron, but less friendly with Theresa May. Under her, he was given another difficult job: finding a solution for the Irish border post-Brexit.
By 2018, in the depths of Brexit chaos, Case became private secretary to Prince William. Just over two years later he was back in No 10 with the trickiest brief of all – cabinet secretary for Johnson, at the heart of an administration where his predecessor, Mark Sedwill, had been ousted in a briefing war along with a number of other Whitehall permanent secretaries.
Case had initially returned on secondment from the palace, coordinating the coronavirus response, and did not initially apply for the cabinet secretary job until he was asked by Johnson.
“I think he would be the first to admit he did not have experience of system leadership. There was a clear gap in his CV when it came to being equipped to run the civil service,” one former colleague said.
One Whitehall source described the civil service anger towards Case as “visceral”, while another said he had been a “submarine” during various crises, never taking the opportunity to own any mistakes or provide cover for others – except the prime minister.
“His biggest mistake is not to have drawn a dividing line at any point with the PM. He has never picked a battle to defend the civil service,” the former colleague said.
