Sir Chris Wormald named as new cabinet secretary and head of civil service
Sir Chris Wormald has been named as the new cabinet secretary and head of the civil service.
The 56-year-old, who will now advise the prime minister on key policy decisions, will replace Simon Case on 16 December after he announced he is stepping down for health reasons.
Sir Chris is currently permanent secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care, advising the health secretary on policy and managing the budget since 2016 – all through the COVID pandemic.
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Sir Keir Starmer, who gave final approval for Sir Chris, said he “brings a wealth of experience to this role at a critical moment in the work of change this new government has begun”.
The decision to promote Sir Chris is the biggest of Sir Keir’s premiership so far, with the civil servant having overseen large-scale reforms of several government departments – something that will have appealed to the PM.
The prime minister said his “mission-led” administration will change the way government serves the country, which “will require nothing less than the complete re-wiring of the British state to deliver bold and ambitious long-term reform”.
“Delivering this scale of change will require exceptional civil service leadership,” Sir Keir added.
“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.”
Sir Chris said he was “delighted” to be appointed to the “privileged role of leading our talented civil service”.
“The government has set a clear mandate – an ambitious agenda with working people at its heart. That will require each and every one of us to embrace the change agenda in how the British state operates,” he added.
“So I look forward to working with leaders across government, to ensure that the civil service has the skills they need to deliver across the breadth of the country.”
Professor Sir Chris Whitty, chief medical officer, will head up the Department for Health while a new permanent secretary is appointed.
Former Brexit negotiator Sir Olly Robins is understood to have been Sue Gray’s top pick for cabinet secretary. Pic: Reuters
Sir Chris Wormald beat other senior current and former civil servants to the job, advertised with a £200,000 salary.
The other contenders were: Sir Olly Robbins, a former director-general of the civil service who was involved in Brexit talks, Dame Antonia Romeo, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, and Tamara Finkelstein, permanent secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Some within Whitehall believe Sir Chris was a “safe choice” compared with the other options.
Simon Case said he was stepping down as cabinet secretary after four years due to a neurological condition. Pic: PA
He steps into the shoes of Mr Case, 45, who was appointed in September 2020 and served four different prime ministers.
In an email to the civil service announcing his resignation in September, Mr Case said: “As many of you know, I have been undergoing medical treatment for a neurological condition over the last 18 months and, whilst the spirit remains willing, the body is not.
“It is a shame that I feel I have to spell this out, but my decision is solely to do with my health and nothing to do with anything else.”
Mr Case announced his resignation following a difficult few weeks for Downing Street during which damaging leaks and internal rows took over the narrative, with Sir Keir growing increasingly frustrated.
The top civil servant was said to have had a tense relationship with Sue Gray, Sir Keir’s former chief of staff who stepped down in October following accusations from some Labour figures about the party’s handling of ministers taking freebies.
Crypto-friendly billionaire investor Bill Ackman is considering the possibility that US President Donald Trump may pause the implementation of his controversial proposed tariffs on April 7.
“One would have to imagine that President Donald Trump’s phone has been ringing off the hook. The practical reality is that there is insufficient time for him to make deals before the tariffs are scheduled to take effect,” Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, said in an April 5 X post.
Trump may postpone tariffs to make more deals, says Ackman
“I would, therefore, not be surprised to wake up Monday with an announcement from the President that he was postponing the implementation of the tariffs to give him time to make deals,” Ackman added.
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries, which took effect on April 5. Harsher reciprocal tariffs on trading partners with which the US has the largest trade deficits are scheduled to kick in on April 9.
Ackman — who famously said “crypto is here to stay” after the FTX collapse in November 2022 — said Trump captured the attention of the world and US trading partners, backing the tariffs as necessary after what he called an “unfair tariff regime” that hurt US workers and economy “over many decades.”
Following Trump’s announcement on April 2, the US stock market shed more value during the April 4 trading session than the entire crypto market is currently worth. The fact that crypto held up better than the US stock market caught the attention of both crypto industry supporters and skeptics.
Source: Cameron Winklevoss
Prominent crypto voices such as BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes and Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss also recently showed their support for Trump’s tariffs.
Related: Trump tariffs squeeze already struggling Bitcoin miners — Braiins exec
Ackman said a pause would be a logical move by Trump — not just to allow time for closing potential deals but also to give companies of all sizes “time to prepare for changes.” He added:
“The risk of not doing so is that the massive increase in uncertainty drives the economy into a recession, potentially a severe one.”
Ackman said April 7 will be “one of the more interesting days” in US economic history.
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Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
Related: Bitcoin at 16: From experiment to trillion-dollar asset
Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
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