Who IS in control of the clattering practice? The Government now has no chief of employees, Cabinet Secretary or head of communications – and the Prime Minister’s stated to care extra in regards to the costume code at conferences than insurance policies

On Feb 13, 2026

Published: 23:27, 12 February 2026 | Updated: 23:29, 12 February 2026

Keir Starmer was accused on Thursday night of throwing another member of his top team under the bus to save his own skin.

As the turmoil in his floundering government deepened, the Prime Minister forced out Sir Chris Wormald barely a year after appointing him as head of Britain’s civil service.

His dramatic move came hours after an extraordinary farce in which Downing Street would not say who held the Cabinet Secretary job.

In a sign of the chaos in No 10, the role was last night split between a trio of temporary incumbents.

And it means that, in less than a week, Sir Keir has lost three of the most senior people he has appointed, following the resignations of Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney on Sunday and Director of Communications Tim Allan the following day.

Mr McSweeney was replaced by two temporary chiefs of staff, further swelling the number of decision makers.

The PM is facing mounting questions over who is running his government, plunged into disarray by the Mandelson scandal.

Only last week, Sir Chris was given the key role of overseeing the publication of the documents that led to the disgraced New Labour grandee’s appointment as US ambassador.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at a cabinet meeting earlier this year

Pictured: The Cabinet Office’s Cat Little

Pictured: tThe Home Office’s Dame Antonia

It was announced that for an ‘interim period’ his responsibilities would be shared by the heads of three Whitehall departments: the Cabinet Office’s Cat Little (pictured left), the Treasury’s James Bowler (pictured centre) and the Home Office’s Dame Antonia (pictured right)

What clattering train? Where it’s from… and who made it famous

Winston Churchill recalled a poem featuring the lines ‘who is in charge of the clattering train?’ as he tried to warn MPs about the growing threat of Nazi Germany.

During a parliamentary debate in March 1935, he urged the government to increase aircraft production and cautioned against appeasing Hitler. His warnings were largely ignored, and in 1948 he wrote how during the debate he remembered – but did not read out – a poem he had read at school.

Written by the journalist Edwin James Milliken and published in an 1890 edition of Punch, the poem was a response to a fatal train crash blamed on crewmen who were asleep at the wheel.

It reads, in part: ‘Who is in charge of the clattering train? The axles creak and the couplings strain. For the pace is hot, and the points are near, And Sleep hath deadened the driver’s ear; And the signals flash through the night in vain. For Death is in charge of the clattering train!’

The phrase has come to refer to a situation that appears to be out of control.

The PM is also engulfed in a bitter row over who will get the £220,000-a-year job of Cabinet Secretary full-time after a former diplomat contacted No 10 to warn against it being given to Dame Antonia Romeo, one of the interim post holders.

Sir Chris is in line to receive a payoff of more than £250,000 after working in Whitehall for 35 years – and has a £2.5million pension pot to look forward to when he retires.

Last night Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘The Cabinet Secretary is the latest person Keir Starmer has thrown under the bus to save his own skin.

‘To add insult to injury, he has signed off a £250,000 payment of what looks like “hush money”, courtesy of the taxpayer.

‘Once again, the Prime Minister’s judgment is found wanting. For a man who has played holier than thou all his life, the latest series of blunders shows someone who is, at best, unsuited to the role or, at worst, morally bankrupt.’

It was only in December 2024 that Sir Keir appointed Sir Chris to lead the civil service, ignoring warnings that he would not be bold enough.

Meanwhile Sir Keir himself was accused of being more interested in what his team wore to No 10 meetings than Government priorities, with he and Attorney General Lord Hermer turning up in ‘jackets with a polo shirt’.

A senior figure told The Spectator: ‘It’s the weirdest thing… You’d get a note the night before telling everyone to make sure they’re wearing smart casual.’

For several days neither the Cabinet Office nor No 10 would say if the country’s top civil servant was still in his job.

Finally, late yesterday afternoon the Government announced Sir Chris would stand down ‘by mutual agreement’.

It was announced that for an ‘interim period’ his responsibilities would be shared by the heads of three Whitehall departments: the Cabinet Office’s Cat Little, the Treasury’s James Bowler and the Home Office’s Dame Antonia.

The Government said a permanent replacement for Sir Chris will be appointed ‘shortly’.

But Sir Keir is already under pressure not to hand the job to Dame Antonia – nicknamed the Queen of Woke.

As The Mail on Sunday revealed in 2020, she was investigated for bullying and misusing expenses while serving as Consul General in New York. She was later cleared.

Ex Foreign Office chief Lord McDonald of Salford revealed he had contacted No 10 to warn against Dame Antonia getting the job without a proper recruitment process.

He told Channel 4 News: ‘In my view, the due diligence has some way still to go.’

A Government source insisted: ‘There is absolutely no basis for this criticism. The allegations all come from a single grievance made some time ago by a former employee. All were dismissed.’