Britain’s youngest cabinet secretary, who remarked during the Covid pandemic that he had “never seen people less well-equipped to run a country”, is to become a peer.
Simon Case, who served four prime ministers in as many years, stood down last year after Labour’s election victory.
He will join Dame Katherine Grainger, the Olympic gold medallist, who has recently become a member of the House of Lords along with Dame Sharon White, the former John Lewis chairwoman who helped to choose Case’s successor.
There is also a peerage for Sir Tim Barrow, the government’s former national security adviser, who had been nominated to become Britain’s ambassador to Washington, only to have his appointment vetoed by Sir Keir Starmer when Labour came to power.
Case became cabinet secretary in September 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, having served as private secretary to the Duke of Cambridge, now the Prince of Wales. His tenure was overshadowed by the turmoil of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street and the partygate scandal.
During the Covid inquiry, private WhatsApp messages were published that showed Case took a dim view of the political leadership in Downing Street. He described the government at the time as a “terrible, tragic joke” and suggested that Johnson’s wife was the “the real person in charge” of the country.
At one point, before being promoted, he wrote to his predecessor: “These people are so mad.” He later added: “I’ve never seen a bunch of people less well-equipped to run a country.”
Grainger, the chairwoman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), is Britain’s most decorated female rower. In addition to winning gold at the 2012 London Olympics, she won four silver medals — in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2016 — and six world championship titles.
She then spent eight years as chairwoman of UK Sport before leaving the post this year and taking up the leadership of the BOA.
Barrow played a key role in Brexit negotiations as the UK’s representative to the European Union between 2017 and 2021, personally delivering the letter that triggered the country’s departure from the bloc. he had been lined up by Rishi Sunak to take over as ambassador to the United States, but the change of government last year led to Starmer appointing Lord Mandelson instead.
White was the first black person and second woman to become a permanent secretary at the Treasury, before serving as CEO of Ofcom between 2015 and 2019. She then chaired John Lewis between 2020 and 2024.
