Simon Case is being scapegoated by anti-Boris coalition, sources claim

Alex Thomas, who worked in Downing Street as principal private secretary to the late Jeremy Heywood, cabinet secretary to David Cameron and Theresa May, believes that Mr Case is the victim of a “phoney war” over what the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Ethics Team told the Prime Minister and what Mr Sunak decided to do with that advice.

He said: “It’s on the Prime Minister to make these appointments and they can ask for advice but in the end it comes down to the Prime Minister’s judgement.

“There isn’t a Cabinet Office investigation team standing ready to go into someone’s personal finances or anything else they have to declare.”

There are three principal accusations aimed at Mr Case. Firstly, that he either knew or should have known that Mr Zahawi was under investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) at the time Boris Johnson made him chancellor, but failed to raise the alarm. Secondly, that a formal complaint about Mr Raab’s alleged bullying was passed to him last year but he failed to act. And thirdly, that he failed to raise conflict of interest concerns about Mr Johnson entering into a loan guarantee agreement with Sam Blyth, a Canadian businessman, who had been introduced to the then prime minister by Richard Sharp, the man later chosen to be BBC chairman (Mr Case did, in fact, advise Mr Johnson to stop speaking to Mr Sharp about “personal financial matters”, a leaked memo has shown).

The home loan guarantee was arranged in 2020, while the events surrounding Mr Zahawi and Mr Raab took place last year. The fact that all of them are now being dredged up at the same time is no coincidence, according to those sympathetic to Mr Case.

“It does feel very orchestrated and that’s what bothers me,” says Lord Udny-Lister, who as Sir Eddie Lister worked alongside Mr Case as Mr Johnson’s Downing Street chief of staff.

“The suggestion that Simon Case should have gone to HMRC over the Nadhim Zahawi case is rubbish.

“It’s the job of the PET to vet people and check into their past. When there is a Cabinet reshuffle there will always be a PET person who does an interview straight after the new minister has been in to see the prime minister. A lot of it is based on trust because reshuffles are done in the space of 24 hours.”

Lord Udny-Lister describes Mr Case as “highly competent” and “the right person for the job”.

Having joined the civil service in 2006, moving to Downing Street as a private secretary to David Cameron and Theresa May, he left Whitehall to work as private secretary to Prince William in 2018, but in August 2020 he was back in Number 10 as Boris Johnson’s Cabinet Secretary, the youngest person to hold the post.

Mr Johnson and Dominic Cummings, his chief adviser, picked Mr Case because he believed in civil service reform (and still does), which made him unpopular with some civil service colleagues. There are also those who thought they deserved the job more.