Starmer's new Cabinet Secretary, sigh

[fanOfBen]

https://archive.ph/vPJLN
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/20/starmer-cabinet-secretary-staff-join-non-binary-book-club/

"As part of an annual review, she set the employee a target of joining the department’s “gender non-conforming book club”, where government workers supposedly read Middlesex, a 2002 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Jeffrey Eugenides about an intersex American, as well as books about people transitioning gender, the source said."

And lots more.

I am sure there are several if not more good women in the Civil Service who could hold the post of Cabinet Secretary. I just wish one of them had been appointed for the job.

She also told a member of staff that she had to recruit non-binary staff.

This is in breach of employment law.

She has got to go.

Do you have a source for that?

Labour have a sickness embedded in their party, I just wonder who is pulling the strings in the background. Long gone are the days of Johnson, Prescott, Williams, Mowlem, Marshall Andrews (who I voted for), they are just a putrid, rotting hulk of a party.

What are "corporate objectives"?

Source, please?

Source, please?

It is from the rather over the top article by the Telegraph I think:

"Dame Antonia Romeo told a civil servant to join a “gender non-conforming book club” as part of their performance review.

The new Cabinet Secretary set out plans for the former staff member to spend one day a week on inclusivity programmes when she was head of the Department for International Trade (DIT) from 2017 to 2021.

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These included helping to raise “awareness and visibility of non-binary identities” and attending the book club, according to documents reviewed by The Telegraph.🤔*

The employee was told to spend up to 20 per cent of their time fulfilling inclusivity goals such as encouraging colleagues to display their preferred pronouns and “recruiting non-binary staff”."

*Note the Telegraph doesn't share these documents. But I am sure there is no misrepresentation going on here.

They do seem to be struggling.

I'm not sure I trust that there is no misrepresentation in the Telegraph these days. It's a very different paper to the respected right wing broadsheet it used to be.

Idk people on here get aerated about The Telegraph but they’ve had some pretty good successes in terms of shaking out Labour politicians.

They tend to get somewhere with campaigns too.

She seems to have had an awful lot of jobs.

Nothing to do with not knowing their place and everything to do with being professional, being held in respect, and showing respect in turn - rather than a bully.

Why are all the Telegraph bashers ignoring the Guardian article posted above.
Appointment of Antonia Romeo as head of civil service shows ‘poor judgment’, say former colleagues | Civil service | The Guardian https://share.google/7ubpSC0GxX93Ceogx
On the complaints;
Hitchens found that she had a case to answer on her management style, but not on her financial affairs. His finding was overturned by the Cabinet Office however, which said she had no case to answer.

Exactly. It's not exactly presenting her as someone with the capability to lead well in this role.

well, I mean, I don’t know, because that not what had happened in this example. it’s quite possible there should be more scrutiny of the complaints made about her - I would hope any newspaper would look into any leads they have on that, but I’m not sure this is an instance of anything particular sinister. It’s been reported in a slightly odd way where it’s not clear what the actual problem is/if this is connected to a bullying complaint.

impartiality in the civil service specifically refers to this:

‘impartiality’ is acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally well governments of different political persuasions

i don’t see how this would qualify as a breach of that.

there could well be plenty to critique about her, but I really don’t think this is it

It explains a lot about why quality of life in the UK is going to shit when a civil service job objective is 'join a book club'. And that's before you getting to the part where it's blatantly political and promoting a totally illogical evidence-free ideology that clashes with material reality.

What about 'improve efficiency and reduce waste in public services', 'fix the roads' 'prevent sewage in our waterways' and I could go on. Are they all just non-jobs now? When are the grown ups coming back, please?

@womendeserveequalhumanrights tbf to Labour they have been much stricter on spending controls and efficiencies in my department than the previous government. This document appears to be from 2021 so under the conservatives. Also, confusingly, telegraph says this is form when she was at DIT but Wikipedia says she was at MOJ in March 2021 (don’t know how to check that). MoJ does not have a reputation for being politically correct!

A cynical view would be that they're a cheap way of getting people to do things on top of their day job. So for example rather than having learning advisors, people are asked to be part of a learning and development committee, who are tasked with identifying training needs or topical issues that are relevant to the department and organising relevant sessions e.g. inviting speakers in. Similarly many departments have committees/networks which are focussed on representing particular groups in the workplace, e.g. when new policies are introduced the parents' network can give views on how it might affect parents in the organisation. It's often something people do on top of their regular jobs and disproportionately done by women.

I mean I would agree with the above that ‘are corporate objectives a bit pointless’ is a fair question!

It’s definitely a pattern now.

People keep voting for the politicians that make these decisions.

The Telegraph spoke to a civil servant whistleblower and the article even included a picture of her performance review, in which the new cabinet secretary had written on it that she needed to join a gender non conforming bookshop. Not sure what else they could have printed to convince you

Interesting, I have goals in my annual PPDP but all are things that benefit my personal, work-related, development or the company. I don't think being member of a book group on company time would be an option.
I was in a research facility of a university the other day for a meeting and there was a list of the members of the DEI group on the notice board and 8 out of the 10 names on it were female names and the two men (or people with male names) were they/thems. I don't know if they meet during worktime or outwith.

Oh FGS. I’d have assumed that someone in her position would be clever; clearly just another 🐑

The main test for promotion in the higher echelons of the civil service is being happy to say whatever it is that powerful politicians want you to say at any time, regardless of any consideration other than self-advancement. So I am sure (assuming the DT reporting is correct) that Dame Antonia’s interest in non- binary book clubs is as easily disposable as any other beliefs if the wind changes. It is one that reflects dominant political preferences rather than shaping them.