Sedwill, who has been criticised in off-the-record briefings to newspapers, wrote to Boris Johnson saying he would stand down as cabinet secretary and head of the civil service in September. Lord Kerslake, a former head of the civil service, said Sedwill had been unfairly smeared by Johnson’s aides and that his treatment was “unacceptable”. It comes as Boris Johnson promised a £1bn rebuilding programme for England’s schools to provide a “world-class education” for children and help the economy to bounce back from the coronavirus crisis. The papersThe Guardian leads with “UK’s top civil servant quits in victory for Cummings” and that’s also the main story in the Express – “Boris takes axe to civil service”. The Telegraph also splashes on the ousting of Sir Mark Sedwill with “PM wants Brexiteer to head the Civil Service” and so does the FT: “Sedwill to leave top civil service job amid PM’s Whitehall shake-up”.

Source: The Guardian June 29, 2020 05:15 UTC