‘She’s a diplomat, not a D-list celeb’: Would-be civil service chief Antonia Romeo branded a ‘shameless’ self-promoter – as axed predecessor’s payoff is discovered to be MORE than £260k

The frontrunner to become the UK’s top civil servant was branded a ‘shameless’ self-promoter by her staff, it has emerged.

Dame Antonia Romeo, who is the most senior official at the Home Office, is widely expected to become the new Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service.

She is currently one of three Whitehall mandarins carrying out interim Cabinet Secretary duties following the sacking of Sir Chris Wormald last week.

But her bid to replace Sir Chris on a permanent basis has been hit by a row over past allegations of bullying related to her time as HM Consul General to New York in 2017.

The Cabinet Office said one formal complaint was ‘thoroughly investigated’ at the time and the allegations were dismissed ‘on the basis there was no case to answer’. 

Fresh details of the complaints previously levelled at Dame Antonia Romeo reveal that colleagues accused her of caring more about her personal profile than her work.

In documents setting out the complaints, seen by the BBC, some contemporaneous testimony states: ‘She’s a diplomat, not a D-list celebrity.

‘My 15-year-old, social-media-obsessed, brother is less shameless in his self-promotion.’

The fresh details emerged as it was revealed the payoff to Sir Chris – who was axed as head of the civil service by Sir Keir Starmer after just 14 months – is likely to have been higher than £260,000.

The Prime Minister initially chose Sir Chris to lead Whitehall in December 2024, but has now decided to ditch him as he attempts another ‘reset’ of his faltering premiership.

Sir Chris was widely reported to have received a taxpayer-funded severance payment of £260,000 – one of the largest ever.

But Government disclosures state that his payout was ‘greater than what [he] would be contractually entitled to’.

Sources told Politico this indicates the total payout was higher than previously thought.

The disclosure was made by Cat Little, the top official at the Cabinet Office.

She requested a ‘ministerial direction’ from the PM to approve Sir Chris’s payoff, because she could not assure him it would present value for money to the taxpayer.

Ms Little wrote in a letter to Sir Keir this week: ‘I am informed that a settlement of this level is necessary given that this is a departure from a high profile, unique role that has been agreed at very short notice.

‘Given the complexity of the legal position and the information to be considered at this time, it is not possible for me to conclude to the level required whether the proposed settlement amount represents value for money or not.

‘However, you as Prime Minister can take into account wider considerations, in particular the public interest in bringing this matter to a conclusion and the prevention of distraction from the effective operation of Government.’

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: ‘We don’t comment on individual HR matters. 

‘Any severance payments for senior officials or ministers are included in the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts which will be published later this year.’ 

Sir Keir Starmer is reported to want Dame Antonia to replace Sir Chris as he attempts another overhaul of his Government.

She was on the shortlist to become Cabinet Secretary in December 2024 before Sir Keir opted for Sir Chris.

But Dame Antonia’s former boss, Lord Simon McDonald, has urged the PM to start the latest recruitment process ‘from scratch’ to ensure there was proper ‘due diligence’.

Among the claims from staff about Dame Antonia is that she demanded they cover the bathroom of her official residence in New York with framed articles about her from Vogue magazine and the New Yorker.

The intention was that ‘regardless of how you use the bathroom, you have to stare at a photo of her in a magazine spread staring back at you’, according to emails reported by the BBC on Tuesday.

One message claimed: ‘Antonia’s obsession with promoting her personal brand over the work and priorities of HMG [HM Government] has created an untenably tense and bullying atmosphere for all staff.’

Another former colleague wrote: ‘I’m extremely alarmed that Antonia, who holds one of the highest diplomatic positions here in the United States, seems to be focusing an undue amount on building her personal Twitter brand.’

As The Mail on Sunday first revealed, Dame Antonia was accused of bullying staff who criticised her lavish spending. It was claimed that she demanded a $100,000 repainting of her official residence as well as costly flights back to the UK.

It was reported on Tuesday that the initial investigation in early 2017 found she had a ‘serious case to answer’ after former ambassador Sir Tim Hitchens was flown to the US to carry out a week-long probe during which he spoke to many of her colleagues.

His report was then submitted to Lord McDonald of Salford, the then Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office who last week dramatically spoke out against the prospect of Dame Antonia becoming Cabinet Secretary.

But despite the findings of the initial investigation, the Cabinet Office then told her ‘there is no case to answer’ and Dame Antonia was just given advice about her management and leadership style.

A source told The Times: ‘The Foreign Office did a full investigation and found a serious case to answer which the Cabinet Office then ignored. So how did they reach that conclusion when they did not do their own investigation?’

But as the negative briefing against Dame Antonia increased, one Labour grandee said she was being unfairly traduced because Sir Keir Starmer’s Government had made mistakes in other recent appointments.

Baroness Harman linked the attacks to Sir Keir’s disastrous decision to appoint Lord Mandelson US Ambassador despite knowing about his friendship with notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and his recent handing of a peerage to his former spin chief Lord Doyle despite reports he had campaigned for a sex offender.

She wrote on social media: ‘Seems like the major errors in the appointment of two men (Mandelson/Doyle) are the pretext to unleash the trashing of a woman (Antonia Romeo).

‘Failing to conduct due diligence on men doesn’t justify hounding a woman. Mysogeny [sic] having a field day right here! It needs to stop!’

The Government has also consistently defended Dame Antonia.

The Cabinet Office said: ‘One formal complaint was raised nine years ago — which was thoroughly investigated and the allegations were dismissed on the basis there was no case to answer.

‘While serving as consul-general in New York, Antonia Romeo was on secondment from the Cabinet Office, therefore decisions about the relevant complaint were made by the Cabinet Office. This is standard practice.’

On Monday Sir Keir’s spokesman told reporters she was an ‘outstanding leader with a 25-year record of excellent public service, including having been appointed to three permanent secretary roles’.