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Sir Chris Wormald will become the new head of the civil service and Cabinet Secretary later this month.

The career civil servant, who has headed the Department for Health and Social Care since 2016, will be the most senior official adviser to the prime minister and Cabinet.

He was leading the health department during the Covid pandemic, and last year against accusations it was chaotic.

The prime minister said delivering the government's priorities would mean "re-wiring" the British state to deliver reform, and said Sir Chris's brought "huge experience" to the role.

Sir Chris will replace Simon Case, who announced he was standing down in September after four years in the role.

He will take up the post on 16 December, when the PM said he would be responsible for the government's "five missions", which are at the heart of Labour's plan for reform.

The PM said he brought huge experience to the role, adding: "From breaking down silos across government to harnessing the incredible potential of technology and innovation, it will require nothing less than the complete re-wiring of the British state to deliver bold and ambitious long-term reform."

Sir Chris said that work would mean civil servants learning new skills in order to match the government's ambition, adding: "That will require each and every one of us to embrace the change agenda in how the British state operates."

At the Covid inquiry last year, Sir Chris was questioned about whether the health department was "chaotic or dysfunctional or ungovernable", after criticism about how it handled the pandemic.

He said he didn't recognise the characterisation, saying: "I recognise [the] people working incredibly hard in very difficult circumstances to get on top of huge challenges."

Experience of reform

Former Foreign Office chief and now crossbench peer Lord McDonald sent his congratulations on X, saying: "Experience, integrity, imagination, hard work and a touch of iconoclasm: Chris offers the essentials for a cabinet secretary."

Another government source who is a fan of Sir Chris said: “He’s a consummate Whitehall insider, knows how government works like the back of his hand and is exactly the person you'd hire if you want to push through a big agenda quickly.”

But former Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings, who was working in No 10 during the Covid pandemic, criticised the appointment, writing on X: "The Westminster system is totally determined to resist any change."

There was praise from another senior government insider, who claimed Sir Chris had "seen Whitehall at its best and worst" and had experience of reforming public services.

"He will rebuild the centre of government and restore professional pride in the civil service, but Keir’s also clearly gone for a public service reformer. He gets delivery."

Some civil servants responded with incredulity at the appointment, especially given the prime minister’s claim that Sir Chris would drive the “complete re-wiring of the British state to deliver bold and ambitious long-term reform.”

One said he had “failed upwards” after he led the department for health through not only the Covid pandemic but years of preparation beforehand. Another said it was a “farcical” appointment. Several officials involved in NHS reform said they were “baffled”.

Many said that he was well-liked by his colleagues, though, and that he had been collegiate and unobtrusive while filling parts of the cabinet secretary’s role during Simon Case’s periods of ill-health.

Case was Cabinet Secretary during the Covid pandemic, and subsequently had to step aside from an investigation into Downing Street parties after it emerged his staff held an event during lockdown.

Thanking Case for his "service to our country and for the invaluable support he has given to me personally", Sir Keir Starmer added: "He has been a remarkable public servant over many years, and our best wishes go to him and his family as he now takes time to focus on his health."