Ex-top civil servant Sir Simon McDonald says Boris Johnson was worst PM he worked under
The former head of the diplomatic service has said Boris Johnson was the worst prime minister he worked under.
Sir Simon McDonald served under seven prime ministers, from Margaret Thatcher to Mr Johnson, as a diplomat and, from 2015 to 2021, as permanent under-secretary to the Foreign Office and head of the diplomatic service.
A civil servant for nearly four decades, Sir Simon has had a unique insight into the workings of government and after resigning last year is now a cross-bench peer in the House of Lords.
He spoke to the Beth Rigby Interviews… programme about the PMs he worked with and the importance of staying neutral as a civil servant.
Sir Simon, whose book Leadership: Lessons from a Life in Diplomacy is published next week, worked closely with Mrs Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Mr Johnson.
“Thatcher was the best and Johnson was the worst,” he said.
And if he had to include Liz Truss, then “she was a worse prime minister than Boris Johnson” while Rishi Sunak is “methodical and promising”.
Sir Simon McDonald said Boris Johnson knew about the Chris Pincher allegations
Johnson was ‘charismatic but chaotic’
Sir Simon, who is now the master of Christ’s College, Cambridge, said Mr Johnson, on a personal level, was “always charming to deal with, he was humorous, he was kind, he was the foreign secretary I worked with who had the most time for the people in his office”.
“And this is a real mark of a character. But what you need to be an effective prime minister is different. Being prime minister is one of the toughest jobs in the world,” he said.
“He is charismatic but chaotic.
“He liked to have multiple opinions swirling around him, the people proposing those ideas never really knew whose was in the lead – sometimes the decision wasn’t clear and sometimes the decision was reversed.
“There was too much swirl, and in the end, the system responds to clearer directions.
“One of the most disconcerting things was to see him arrive at a meeting, pretending to be less well briefed than he actually was. But that was part of his character.”
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The downfall of Boris Johnson
In July this year, Sir Simon took the unusual decision, for a former civil servant, to tweet out a letter to the standards commissioner saying Number 10 “are still not telling the truth” about Mr Johnson not knowing about previous sexual assault allegations against Conservative MP Chris Pincher.
Asked if Mr Johnson was told about the allegations against Mr Pincher, the subsequent investigation and the outcome, Sir Simon said he was informed when he was foreign secretary and again when he was prime minister.
Sir Simon’s tweet put Mr Johnson’s premiership in peril, with the row over Mr Pincher leading to the former PM’s exit from office.
He said he did not think his letter would have such an impact and admitted the backlash from the government was “unpleasant” but not as bad as what the victims of Mr Pincher had experienced.
“I spoke for a couple of reasons. First of all, I’d left the civil service and am now a member of the House of Lords. I am part of the legislature, so I have additional duties,” he said.
“Second, as the story developed, it seemed that nobody was paying attention to the previous victims. And there were victims.
“And I thought they should not be airbrushed, but what they had endured should be remembered.
“I’d written the letter on Monday evening, my wife made me sleep on it and as we were going to sleep I said ‘do you think anybody will notice?'”
Mr Pincher, a former deputy chief whip, denies all allegations of sexual misconduct.
Sir Simon said Mr Johnson was ‘charismatic but chaotic’
‘My letter was the final straw’
A former minister then told a newspaper Sir Simon and Mr Johnson “never saw eye to eye” as the civil servant was a Remainer, implying he had an ulterior motive.
“It was unpleasant but much less unpleasant than what the victims of the various Pincher scandals had undergone. And it was wrong. I knew it was wrong,” Sir Simon said.
He added that Mr Johnson knew he was a Remainer but denied pushing those views as he strongly believed his job was “to make the best of the exit, that is what civil servants do, no matter the government, even when they disagree”.
Despite initially questioning whether his letter would have any impact, Sir Simon added: “I accept that mine was the final straw that made it onto the Johnson camel’s back first.”
When Sir Simon stepped down as head of the diplomatic service early, there was speculation it was because he was against the merger of the Foreign Office with the Department for International Development.
But he denied that was the case, saying: “I supported the merger very, very strongly.”
Thatcher to Johnson
Sir Simon said all the PMs he has served under were “good at some things and weak at other things” – and “nearly all look better in the rear view mirror”.
“Margaret Thatcher was a very difficult prickly character for the system, but who had a clarity and a sense of purpose and a sense of galvanising the system which looks to have been one of our most effective prime ministers in 300 years,” he said.
He said John Major looked “beleaguered at the time” but “was one of the most methodical men I’ve ever seen”.
Tony Blair was “the best at communicating but some of his biggest policy calls were just wrong,” he said.
He said he does not think Mr Blair lied when he said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but “the intelligence picture comprehensively misled him” and he “believed what he was saying”.
“It’s very, very difficult as a human being to admit wrong decisions,” Sir Simon added about Mr Blair not admitting he was wrong.
He said Gordon Brown was “the best of finance but quite a difficult communicator” who “wore his anxieties on his face” which was not helpful when leading people “through very difficult time”.
David Cameron, Sir Simon said, “looked the most of ease in the job and was in some ways the easiest to work for”.
Theresa May was also a “methodical person but with a very difficult job that she didn’t really sympathise with”.
Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has met Vladimir Putin for talks in Russia – as the US president called on Moscow to “get moving” with ending the war in Ukraine.
Mr Witkoff, who has been pressing the Kremlin to accept a truce, visited Mr Putin in St Petersburg after earlier meeting the Russian leader’s international co-operation envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Mr Putin was shown on state TV greeting Mr Witkoff at the city’s presidential library at the start of the latest discussions about the search for a peace deal on Ukraine.
Before Friday’s meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov played down expectations of a breakthrough and told state media the visit would not be “momentous”.
Follow the latest updates on the war in Ukraine
However, Sky News Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett said he believes the meeting – Mr Witkoff’s third with Mr Putin this year – is significant as a sign of the Trump administration’s “increasing frustration at the lack of progress on peace talks”.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump issued his latest social media statement on trying to end the war, writing on Truth Social: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war – A war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!”
Dialogue between the US and Russia, aimed at agreeing a ceasefire ahead of a possible peace deal to end the war, has recently appeared to have stalled over disagreements around conditions for a full pause.
Mr Trump, pictured at a cabinet meeting at the White House earlier this week, has called for Russia to ‘get moving’. Pic: AP
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Secondary sanctions could be imposed on countries that buy Russian oil, Mr Trump has said, if he feels Moscow is dragging its feet on a deal.
Mr Putin has said he is ready in principle to agree a full ceasefire, but argues crucial conditions have yet to be agreed – and that what he calls the root causes of the war have yet to be addressed.
The Russian president wants to dismantle Ukraine as an independent, functioning state and has demanded Kyiv recognise Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and other partly occupied areas, and pull its forces out, as well as a pledge for Ukraine to never join NATO and for the size of its army to be limited.
Zelenskyy renews support calls after attack on home city
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Children killed in strike on Zelenskyy’s home town
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed his appeals for more Patriot air defence systems after the deaths of 20 people, including nine children, who were killed when a Russian missile hit apartment buildings and a playground in his home city of Kryvyi Rih last week.
Speaking online at a meeting of the so-called Ramstein group of about 50 nations that provide military support to Ukraine, named after a previous meeting at America’s Ramstein air base in Germany in 2022, Mr Zelenskyy said recent Russian attacks showed Moscow was not ready to accept and implement any realistic and effective peace proposals.
Mr Zelenskyy also made his evening address to the nation, saying: “Ukraine is not just asking – we are ready to buy appropriate additional systems.”
The UK’s defence secretary, John Healy, has said this is “the critical year” for Ukraine – and has confirmed £450m in funding for a military support package.
A family of five Spanish tourists, including three children, have been killed in a helicopter crash in New York City.
A New York City Hall spokesman identified two of those killed as Agustin Escobar, a Siemens executive, and Merce Camprubi Montal – believed to be his wife, NBC News reported.
The pilot was also killed as the aircraft crashed into the Hudson River at around 3.17pm on Thursday.
New York Police commissioner Jessica Tisch said divers had recovered all those on board from the helicopter, which was upside down in the water.
“Four victims were pronounced dead on scene and two more were removed to local area hospitals, where sadly both succumbed to their injuries,” she said.
The helicopter was submerged upside down in the Hudson. Pic: Reuters
A crane lifted out the wreckage on Thursday evening. Pic: AP
The Spanish president Pedro Sanchez called the news “devastating”.
“An unimaginable tragedy. I share the grief of the victims’ loved ones at this heartbreaking time,” he wrote on X.
Rotor blade ‘flew off’
The aircraft was on a tourist flight of Manhattan, run by the New York Helicopters company.
Witnesses described seeing the main rotor blade flying off moments before it dropped out the sky.
Agustin Escobar and Merce Camprubi Montal.
Pic: Facebook
Lesly Camacho, a worker at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, said she saw the helicopter spinning uncontrollably before it slammed into the water.
“There was a bunch of smoke coming out. It was spinning pretty fast, and it landed in the water really hard,” she said.
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Witness saw ‘parts flying off’ helicopter
Another witness said “the chopper blade flew off”.
“I don’t know what happened to the tail, but it just straight up dropped,” Avi Rakesh told Sky’s US partner, NBC News.
Video on social media showed parts of the Bell 206 helicopter tumbling through the air and landing in the river.
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New York mayor confirms six dead
The crash happened near Pier 40. Pic: AP
New York Mayor Eric Adams confirmed the six deaths and said authorities believed the tourists were from Spain.
He said the flight had taken off from a downtown heliport at around 3pm.
Pic: Cover Images/AP
The crash happened close to Pier 40 and the Holland tunnel, which links lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighbourhood with Jersey City to its west.
Tracking service Flight Radar 24 published what it said was the helicopter’s route, with the aircraft appearing to be in the sky for 15 minutes before the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have started an investigation.
Agustin Escobar.
Pic: Europa Press/AP
Thursday’s incident comes less than three month after 67 people died when an army helicopter and American Airlines jet collided over the Potomac River in Washington DC.
A former ballerina who spent more than a year in a Russian jail for donating £40 to a charity supporting Ukraine has returned home to the US after being freed in a prisoner exchange.
Ksenia Karelina landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at around 11pm, local time, on Thursday.
A smiling Ms Karelina was greeted on the runway by her fiance, the professional boxer Chris van Heerden, and given flowers by Morgan Ortagus, President Donald Trump’s deputy special envoy to the Middle East.
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Ksenia Karelina arrives at Joint Base Andrews. Pic: AP
Van Heerden said in a statement he was “overjoyed to hear that the love of my life, Ksenia Karelina, is on her way home from wrongful detention in Russia.
“She has endured a nightmare for 15 months and I cannot wait to hold her. Our dog, Boots, is also eagerly awaiting her return.”
He thanked Mr Trump and his envoys, as well as prominent public figures who had championed her case, including Dana White, a friend of Mr Trump and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Ms Karelina, 34, a US-Russian citizen also identified as Ksenia Khavana, was accused of treason when she was arrested in Yekaterinburg, in southwestern Russia, while visiting family in February last year.
Investigators searched her mobile phone and found she made a $51.80 (£40) donation to Razom, a charity that provides aid to Ukraine, on the first day of Russia’s invasion in 2022.
She admitted the charge at a closed trial in the city in August last year and was later jailed for 12 years, to be served in a penal colony.
At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mr Trump, who wants to normalise relations with Moscow, said the Kremlin “released the young ballerina and she is now out, and that was good. So we appreciate that”.
Ksenia Karelina is hugged by her boyfriend, Chris van Heerden. Pic: Reuters
He said the release followed conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian security services accused her of “proactively” collecting money for a Ukrainian organisation that was supplying gear to Kyiv’s forces.
The First Department, a Russian rights group, said the charges stemmed from a $51.80 donation to a US charity aiding Ukraine.
Washington, which had called her case “absolutely ludicrous”, released Arthur Petrov, who it was holding on charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronics to Russia, in the prisoner swap in Abu Dhabi.
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Karelina was among a growing number of Americans arrested in Russia in recent years as tensions between Moscow and Washington spiked over the war in Ukraine.
Her release is the latest in a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia and the US carried out in the last three years – and the second since Mr Trump took office.
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said members of the Trump administration “continue to work around the clock to ensure Americans detained abroad are returned home to their families”.
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