Dominic Cummings has warned that a ‘hard rain’ is about to fall over Whitehall. Perhaps that’s why Simon Case wears a Barbour. Or maybe it’s all part of his pragmatic, old school, down-to-earth image. Those traits will certainly come in useful. The mild-mannered and savvy 41-year-old has just been appointed the new top dog in the Civil Service — and he comes at a time of both national and institutional crisis, and as Whitehall itself is being labelled a backward and constipated old dinosaur. But, by all accounts, the incoming Case is far more of a bridge-builder than a slash-and-grabber. And his poise, can-do spirit and avowed discretion have gained him some friends in very high places indeed. He is, in short, the most powerful political figure you’ve never heard of. So here’s what you need to know about him.
Born in Bristol in 1978, Simon Case attended the independent Bristol Grammar School before hopping up to Trinity College Cambridge for a BA in history. Here he was a keen and competent sportsman, a president of the Cambridge University Lightweight Rowing Club, and won election to the prestigious Hawks’ Club.
Cambridge was followed by a PhD in political history at Queen Mary University, London — where Case’s thesis was titled ‘The Joint Intelligence Committee and the German Question, 1947-61’. It was all about how government decision making was shaped and guided in a time of crisis and international unrest, with particular emphasis on Russian wranglings in the Cold War. Aha.
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