Several people with knowledge of the past investigation into alleged bullying by Dame Antonia Romeo, who was named on Thursday as the country’s top civil servant, raised concerns about her with the Cabinet Office this month.
Three individuals contacted the department after Romeo emerged as the frontrunner to succeed Sir Chris Wormald as cabinet secretary, according to people familiar with the matter.
Lord Simon McDonald, former Foreign Office permanent secretary at the time of the probe into Romeo’s conduct, also said last week that if she was appointed to the top Whitehall job, it would indicate that “the due diligence still has some way to go”. He added he was trying to contact Downing Street over the matter.
Romeo, who has now been formally appointed by Sir Keir Starmer, was accused of making excessive demands, reducing an employee to tears and threatening the career of another member of staff while she was consul general in New York in 2016-17.
An investigation was launched at the time but later closed, with the Cabinet Office saying that “there was no case to answer”.
The allegations against Romeo were initially reported by the Mail on Sunday in 2020 and resurfaced after she became the frontrunner for the Cabinet Office role this month.
The department said the allegations “all come from a single grievance made some time ago by a former employee”, adding: “All the allegations were dismissed on the basis there was no case to answer.”
But one former official described the Cabinet Office’s characterisation of the claim this month as “disingenuous”.
The “single grievance” was a 2,500-word summary of alleged incidents of poor conduct by Romeo towards multiple people. It was collated and submitted by a manager with oversight of human resources at the New York consulate to a senior figure in HR at the UK’s Washington embassy.
The report, which has been seen by the FT, included claims that Romeo had caused one staff member to “break down in tears” at a meeting and told another official: “I don’t like hearing the word ‘no’. It’s proof that you’re lazy and not doing your job.”
The person who compiled the dossier was one of two people who later resigned, citing Romeo’s conduct as a factor in their exits.
The former manager was among the people who have contacted the government about Romeo in the past week.
The FT has also seen contemporaneous email correspondence from the other official who quit their job titled “HR complaint”, in which they accused Romeo of having “ruled . . . with an iron hand”.
Romeo was approached for comment.
According to the people familiar with the 2017 probe, the Foreign Office assigned senior diplomat Sir Tim Hitchens to launch an investigation based on the report and other factors, including the resignation of the two employees.
The Foreign Office found that there was a “serious case to answer” on the bullying allegations, according to several people familiar with the matter, who claimed that the Cabinet Office then “shut it down”.
The matter was overseen by the Cabinet Office, which was then Romeo’s employer. But the initial fact-gathering process was conducted by the Foreign Office, where she had been on secondment.
A UK government official who was familiar with the investigation said that after her arrival in the New York role, “things became very tricky very quickly . . . more and more complaints were coming in about her behaviour”.
The person said some employees called officials in the UK’s Washington embassy “in tears”.
A second person, an official who worked for the Foreign Office and who has knowledge of the investigation, said: “It was clear there were unreasonable demands [by Romeo]: shouting at people; threats to people’s jobs if they didn’t do what she wanted.”
Romeo went on to serve as permanent secretary in the Department for International Trade, the Ministry of Justice and finally the Home Office before Thursday’s announcement of her new post.
No other complaints were raised against her in those roles, according to Cabinet Office officials. Some allege she is the victim of a smear campaign.
One official hit out at “a one-sided, personal view from a handful of former staff” and another accused the former manager who compiled the dossier of pursuing a vendetta against Romeo.
The tone of the dossier is scathing at times, for instance including the question: “How greedy can she [Romeo] possibly be?” The former manager denied the suggestion of any personal grudge.
A raft of officials have rushed to Romeo’s defence, including two former senior mandarins.
Sir Matthew Rycroft, who was UK permanent representative to the UN while Romeo was consul general, told Channel 4 News: “I was the senior FCDO official in New York at the time, and having seen the relevant documentation myself, I can confirm that I . . . was satisfied there was no case to answer in relation to the single formal complaint that was made.”
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “Antonia Romeo is an outstanding leader with 25 years of public service.”
“As we have repeatedly said, one formal complaint was raised nine years ago which was thoroughly investigated . . . It is entirely inappropriate to resurface dismissed HR proceedings almost a decade later,” they added.
After Romeo’s appointment as cabinet secretary was announced on Thursday, the Cabinet Office said an “enhanced due diligence process” had been undertaken. Her promotion to the most senior role on Whitehall was approved by the first civil service commissioner Baroness Gisela Stuart.
Officials have also said Romeo has a strong record of standing against bullying, pointing to her robustness when she was permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice and tackled justice secretary Dominic Raab on his treatment of staff in 2022.
One senior official who has worked with Romeo for more than half a decade said she was “firm and direct” and did not shy away from tackling poor performance, but was “incredibly respectful”, had “never shouted” at staff and was widely regarded as an “inspiring” leader.
Another diplomat argued that Romeo’s “in-your-face” style and “action-oriented” approach were the attributes required by the next cabinet secretary to shake up the civil service and push through Starmer’s agenda.