Former Whitehall chief Simon Case takes seat on red benches in House of Lords
The 46-year-old, who served four prime ministers, joins the independent crossbenches in the unelected chamber, which scrutinises legislation and acts as a check on the Government.
Lord Case wore the traditional scarlet robes for the short introduction ceremony in the chamber, where he swore allegiance to the King.
He was supported by former Whitehall chief Lord Butler of Brockwell and Lord Chartres, a retired bishop of London.
Lord Case became cabinet secretary and head of the Civil Service aged just 41 in September 2020, having previously served as private secretary to the Duke of Cambridge.
He had also worked for the GCHQ intelligence agency.
He stepped down from the top Whitehall job at the end of 2024 on health grounds after a turbulent four years in the role, which included the Covid-19 pandemic, Tory infighting, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
His tenure was not without controversy, as he was forced to recuse himself from leading an investigation into the 'Partygate' scandal following allegations his office had held a Christmas event during lockdown.
Lord Case was not one of those fined over the episode.
Appointed by Boris Johnson, he held the post under the subsequent administrations of Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.
He was succeeded by Sir Chris Wormald.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BreakingNews.ie
a minute ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Michael O'Leary criticised for ‘drive-by commentary' on Dublin metro
Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has been criticised for his 'insulting' comments on a metro for Dublin, which he called a 'waste' of taxpayer money. The 18.8km rail line, most of which will be underground, is to run from north of Swords to Charlemont in the south of Dublin city centre. Advertisement Various metro projects for the capital have been proposed in recent decades, but none have proceeded to the building stage. On Tuesday, the Government announced that the MetroLink project would get a €2 billion boost in funding as part of the national development plan, in what Taoiseach Micheál Martin said was 'a very definitive commitment to the metro'. While Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe indicated the latest estimated cost for the MetroLink was €11 billion, Mr O'Leary claimed it would cost €20 billion, 'so about a billion a kilometre'. 'Dublin Airport doesn't need it, Dublin Airport passengers won't use it – they're already well-served by buses,' he told RTÉ Radio on Wednesday, while claiming that less than a third of the airport's passengers use buses. Advertisement He said that while the tube in London runs from Heathrow and through 'all of London', the Metro will only serve a section of Dublin city's residents – around 100,000 people, he claimed. 'Here's the madness of this. This thing is going to start at Stephen's Green in the morning. If you want to get to our first wave of departures, which leave at about 6.30 in the morning, you need to be at the airport at 5.30am. 'Are you seriously going to drive into the centre of Stephen's Green, where there's no car parking, to get this metro to get to Dublin Airport for 5.30 in the morning? No, you're not. 'Let me give you the alternative scenario: for €100 million, this year we could buy 400 buses, and 400 buses would provide exactly the same capacity as this metro from Dublin Airport, in through Ballymun, in through Drumcondra, on bus lanes that already exist.' Advertisement He claimed the plan had not been properly costed and hit out at the Government's handling of public finances. 'This Government wasted €330,000 on a bike shed, imagine what they do with an 18-kilometre underground train from an airport?' Micheál Martin announced two billion euro funding for the metro project (Phil Noble/PA) He also criticised comments by Mr Martin, who said the Irish capital will not be sustainable without a metro. 'Does he not understand that the buses actually will all be electrified by the end of this decade, which will actually be greener than light rail?' Advertisement Labour TD Duncan Smith said Mr O'Leary's criticisms of public infrastructure were as sure 'as night follows day'. 'Dubliners are stuck in daily gridlock. MetroLink is their best chance at affordable, reliable transport that serves communities, not corporate profits. 'As a consistent advocate for MetroLink in Swords, I find it insulting to hear this kind of drive-by commentary from someone who clearly doesn't rely on public transport to get to work. 'Dublin deserves better than a transport plan from a billionaire whose only experience with buses is when he is pretending to be one.' Advertisement When asked about his endorsement of Enterprise Minister Peter Burke and junior minister Robert Troy during the general election campaign, Mr O'Leary claimed 'they're not in government' and criticised Mr Martin again. 'I endorsed Peter Burke, who actually topped the poll despite the criticism. I also endorsed Robert Troy – and they're not the government.'
Reuters
a minute ago
- Reuters
Zelenskiy vows to protect Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies, bows to protests
KYIV, July 23 (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed on Wednesday to retain the independence of anti-corruption agencies, bowing to pressure from the first wartime street protests and rare rebukes from European allies. For a second day in a row, thousands of people across the country - from Kharkiv in the northeast to the capital Kyiv to Lviv in the west - took to the streets demanding reversal of the law curbing the independence of anti-graft agencies. In his evening address to the nation on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said he would submit a new bill to ensure the rule of law and retain the independence of the anti-corruption agencies. "Of course, everyone has heard what people are saying these days... on social media, to each other, on the streets. It's not falling on deaf ears," Zelenskiy said. Thousands of people turned up for a second day of protests in central Kyiv, close to Zelenskiy's office. In the first such demonstrations of the war, the youth, activists, and war veterans chanted 'Shame' and 'Veto the Law'. "It's like a knife in the back, to be honest," Maryna Mykhalchuk, 26, who has friends killed in the war and plans to join the army soon, told Reuters. Opposition lawmakers and European officials also called for reversal of the law, which Zelenskiy signed overnight. The law gives the Prosecutor General appointed by Zelenskiy more power over two investigative anti-corruption agencies. It was rushed through parliament on Tuesday, a day after the security services arrested two anti-corruption officials for suspected Russian ties. In a joint statement, both agencies - the anti-corruption bureau NABU and the specialised prosecutors SAPO - said they wanted their independence restored through legislation. Parliament is expected to hold an emergency session next week to consider the new draft bill from Zelenskiy's office, several lawmakers said. The law prompted some of Ukraine's European allies to deliver their strongest criticism of Zelenskiy's government since Russia's invasion in February 2022. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed her strong concern to Zelenskiy and asked for an explanation, said the spokesman. The law's critics say the government appears to be trying to rein in anti-corruption agencies to protect officials. After decades of endemic corruption in Ukraine, cleaning up its government has been held up as the key condition for the country to join the EU, tap billions of dollars in foreign aid, and integrate more broadly with the West. The issue risks antagonising Kyiv's most loyal allies at a time when it is trying to smooth over the relationship with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has frequently criticised Zelenskiy. "Ukraine's anti-corruption institutions are vital to its reform path. Restricting them would be a significant setback," Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said in a post on X. Benjamin Haddad, France's European Affairs minister, said it was not too late to reverse the decision. Ukrainian political analysts said the legislation risked undermining society's trust in Zelenskiy during a critical stage of the war against Russia. Fierce fighting rages along more than 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) of the frontline. Russian troops continue their grinding advance in the east and have stepped up near daily attacks on Ukrainian cities with hundreds of drones. Hundreds of protesters, some clad in military uniforms, in the city of Zaporizhzhia, close to the frontline in the southeast, demanded overturning the law with chants of "Ukraine is not Russia." Similar rallies took place in other major cities across the country. The public's European aspirations are vital to sustaining the war effort, said Valerii Pekar, a Kyiv-based analyst: "Only democracy and the European choice give us a chance to win," he posted on Facebook.
The Guardian
13 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine protests: why are civil society activists angry with Zelenskyy?
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has approved a contentious bill that critics say will weaken the country's fight against corruption. The bill's passage into law has triggered the first serious protests against his government. Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, voted to bring two independent agencies – the national anti-corruption bureau (Nabu) and the specialised anti-corruption prosecutor's office (Sapo) – under effective government control. The country's prosecutor general can now close cases against top officials, and investigations can be transferred to other bodies. Zelenskyy might have vetoed the new bill, but instead he signed it into law late on Tuesday night. In a video address, he said he needed to clear Ukraine's 'anti-corruption infrastructure' of Russian influence. He accused the two organisations concerned of failing to pursue cases against Ukrainian officials living abroad and suggested they were guilty of leaking information helpful to Moscow. Many people are furious. Hours before Zelenskyy signed the bill into law, about 1,500 young protesters gathered outside his presidential office in Kyiv. They chanted: 'Veto the law', 'shame' and 'we are the power'. Several waved banners with the number 12412 – referring to the new law – crossed out. There were also demonstrations in Lviv, Dnipro and Odesa. The activists say Zelenskyy has violated the informal social contract between government and society that has existed since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Under it, campaigners were largely silent about official failures because of the country's precarious wartime situation. The priority was Ukraine's survival as a state and nation. That deal appears to be over, together with Zelenskyy's status as an uncontested leader. Opponents claim the president and his team are sliding towards authoritarianism. They see a return to the old days of the corrupt pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, who enriched his friends and prosecuted his enemies before fleeing to Moscow in 2014. Tensions between Nabu and the government have been brewing for some time. Last week, the bureau accused a senior official from Ukraine's security service, the SBU, of taking bribes. The official allegedly asked for $300,000 (£220,000) to get rid of evidence in a case involving the illegal smuggling of conscripts abroad. Nabu has also made claims against Ukraine's former deputy prime minister Oleksiy Chernyshov. The SBU has raided Nabu's offices and says three employees have connections with Russia. It has also accused the bureau's deputy chief, Vitaliy Shabunin, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner, of failing to turn up for military duty. His supporters dismiss the charges against him as absurd and confected. Shabunin has given interviews denouncing Zelenskyy. On one side of the dispute are Ukraine's 'old' law enforcement agencies – which are loyal to the president – including the SBU and prosecutor general's office. On the other are the two 'new' independent agencies, Nabo and Sapo, which were set up in 2014 with strong western backing. By stripping Nabu of its powers, Zelenskyy has dramatically escalated the feud between them. It is unimpressed. In a statement on Tuesday, before the bill was signed, Transparency International said Ukraine's parliament had stripped society of its anti-corruption institutions. It described them as one of the country's greatest achievements since the 'revolution of dignity', the phrase used to describe the mass street protests in 2013 and 2014 that drove Yanukovych from power. The parliament had undermined the trust of Ukraine's partners, it said. Several senior European officials have expressed serious concern. They include the EU's defence commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, and its enlargement commissioner, Marta Kos. The subtext is that Ukraine's attempts to join the EU could be badly damaged. Germany says its path to membership has been 'hampered'. Well-known supporters of Ukraine have also raised the alarm. It is unclear if Zelenskyy will back down in response to private pressure from western leaders, or shrug off the criticism at home and abroad. Ukraine's enemies are delighted by the internal political crisis, the biggest of Zelenskyy's premiership. The US far-right Republican congresswoman Majorie Taylor Green called Zelenskyy a dictator and shared a video of Tuesday's evening's anti-government demonstration.
