Ministers are under pressure to publish an internal Government investigation into the lavish New York lifestyle enjoyed at taxpayers’ expense by the frontrunner to be the new Cabinet Secretary.
Dame Antonia Romeo, 51, is strongly tipped to become the first female head of the civil service after Sir Keir Starmer forced out Sir Chris Wormald as part of his last-ditch attempt to ‘reset’ No 10 amid turmoil over the Peter Mandelson scandal.
But, as The Mail on Sunday revealed in 2020, Dame Antonia, the Home Office Permanent Secretary, was investigated over a flood of allegations relating to her time as Britain’s consul-general in New York three years earlier.
It is alleged she ‘terrorised’ staff who criticised her extravagant lifestyle and reportedly lavish spending.
Her expenses reportedly included more than £120,000 in fees for her three children to attend an upmarket New York school and business class flights – including a last-minute trip to London in February 2017 so Dame Antonia could attend the Bafta awards.
Plus she hosted a series of glitzy parties for celebrity figures including Anna Wintour, Joanna Lumley and the now disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘The complaint was thoroughly investigated and all the allegations were dismissed on the basis there was no case to answer.’
Her allies insist the spending was part of her job to promote the UK, but some senior diplomats dubbed it a ‘whitewash’.
Dame Antonia Romeo, 51, is strongly tipped to become the first female head of the civil service
Pictured: Dame Antonia Romeo with former Vogue editor Anna Wintour
Pictured: Dame Antonia Romeo posing with Harvey Weinstein
Last week, her former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, Simon McDonald, said there should be ‘more due diligence’ over the appointment. Now the Tories have asked Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to publish the findings of the expenses investigation.
The party’s Cabinet Office spokesman Alex Burghart said: ‘The Government has forced out the man in charge of the investigation into Mandelson and who the Prime Minister promised was making sure there was no “cover up”.
Given the way Sir Chris has been forced from office we expect there to be proper due diligence in appointing a new Cabinet Secretary. After this Government’s recent scandals, the public deserve complete transparency and honesty.’
Traditionalists have also objected to her social media content as permanent secretary, with one insider saying: ‘She goes to parties and looks like she’s enjoying herself, in contrast with the vast majority of permanent secretaries.’
In June 2017 Dame Antonia played host to high-profile celebrities on the rooftop of the British residence in Manhattan in honour of then Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
She was pictured smiling with designers Calvin Klein and Michael Kors – and Weinstein just four months before sexual abuse allegations came to light.
Other soirees include a ‘girls’ lunch’ for former chancellor George Osborne’s then wife Frances and Vanity Fair’s former editor Tina Brown, and a reception to mark the centenary of British Vogue with then newlyweds model Jerry Hall and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and model Alexa Chung.