Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street in London, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026.Keir Starmer has lost his top civil servant barely a year after appointing him.Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald agreed “by mutual consent” with the prime minister to stand down.The prime minister hailed Chris Wormald’s “exceptional” leadership when he was announced as cabinet secretary in December, 2024.However, it is understoof the PM has been unhappy with his performance and now he has gone just 14 months later.In a statement, Wormald said: “It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as a civil servant for the past 35 years, and a particular distinction to lead the service as Cabinet Secretary.“I want to place on record my sincere thanks to the extraordinary civil servants, public servants, ministers, and advisers I have worked with. Our country is fortunate to have such dedicated individuals devoted to public service, and I wish them every success for the future.”The PM said: “I am very grateful to Sir Chris for his long and distinguished career of public service, spanning more than 35 years, and for the support that he has given me over the past year.“I have agreed with him that he will step down as Cabinet Secretary today. I wish him the very best for the future.”He is the third senior official to leave No.10 in the past week, after chief of staff Morgan McSweeney resigned on Sunday and communications director Tim Allan quit on Monday.Wormald’s departure raises fresh questions about Starmer’s judgment following his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson the UK’s ambassador to Washington.The disgraced former Labour peer was sacked seven months later over his connections to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.Mandelson is now facing a criminal investigation over allegations he passed market sensitive information to the billionaire financier when he was business secretary in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.Starmer sang Wormald’s praises when he first appointed him just over a year ago, saying: “Delivering this scale of change will require exceptional civil service leadership.“There could be no-one better placed to drive forward our Plan for Change than Chris, and I look forward to working with him as we fulfil the mandate of this new government, improving the lives of working people and strengthening our country with a decade of national renewal.”Speculation that Starmer himself could step down reached fever pitch on Monday after Scottish leader Anas Sarwar urged him to quit, but the prime minister told Labour MPs he was “not prepared to walk away”. “I have had my detractors every step along the way, and I’ve got them now. Detractors that don’t want a Labour government at all, and certainly not one to succeed,” Starmer said at a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting.“But I’ll tell you this, after having fought so hard for the chance to change our country, I’m not prepared to walk away from my mandate and my responsibility to my country, or to plunge us into chaos, as others have done.”Related…Keir Starmer Lives To Fight Another Day After Anas Sarwar Ambush BackfiresCabinet Ministers Declare Support For Starmer As PM Fights For SurvivalHammer Blow For Keir Starmer As Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar Calls On Him To Quit HuffPost UK – Athena2 – All Entries (Public) Read More