Revenge of the Remainiac mandarin accused of leaks: Former diplomat Simon McDonald was on No. 10’s ‘list of shame’ before he waded into Chris Pincher scandal
- Former top civil servant and remainer ‘far from popular’ within Downing Street
- Career diplomat Simon McDonald was reportedly on a No 10 ‘s*** list’
- McDonald and PM Boris Johnson repeatedly clashed, insider claims
The former civil servant whose letter triggered last night’s crisis was far from popular in Downing Street even before he accused No 10 of not telling the truth over the Chris Pincher scandal.
Career diplomat Simon McDonald did not see eye to eye with Boris Johnson, and was reportedly on a No 10 ‘s*** list’ because of his anti-Brexit views.
Prior to becoming a peer, Lord McDonald had been the top Foreign Office mandarin between 2015 and 2020, including the period when Mr Johnson was foreign secretary.
The pair repeatedly clashed, insiders claim, and the now-Prime Minister thought the ‘Remainiac’ mandarin was trying to ‘undermine him by leaking stories about him being lazy’.
Lord McDonald left the civil service in August 2020, after being named as one of three permanent secretaries reportedly in line to be sacked.
The former top civil servant claimed No10 ‘keep changing their story and are still not telling the truth’
The PM is under pressure over his decision to appoint Mr Pincher as the Conservative deputy chief whip in February
Lord Heseltine gloated last night that if Boris Johnson goes, Brexit will too.
He claimed the departure from the EU had been a disaster, and the Tories must change course to stay in government.
Asked if the party would oust a proven vote-winner, he told the BBC: ‘It has an instinct for survival. They know that under Boris they will not win the next election.’ The Remainer, who served in Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet but lost the whip in 2019 after backing the Lib Dems in European Parliament elections, said: ‘The cancer at the heart of this dilemma is Brexit. If Boris goes, Brexit goes.
Lord Heseltine, whose Henley seat was taken by Mr Johnson in 2001, said he liked the PM, but added: ‘That is often the case with real rogues – they can be entertaining… providing you can live with the lack of integrity.’
In an interview with the UK in a Changing Europe think-tank last year, he said he was ‘soaked’ by the ‘hard rain’ that Dominic Cummings forecast was coming for Whitehall.
‘Apparently, we were all for the high jump. Immediately after that, Dom Raab said, “This is rubbish. Don’t worry about it”, so I didn’t worry,’ he said.
But when his contract was up for renewal in August 2020, the Foreign Office was being merged with the Department for International Development.
He left after Mr Johnson told him: ‘I’m sure that you could lead DfID but you will always look to them like Foreign Office. I need a new person from the start.’
Lord McDonald, made a crossbench peer on quitting the Civil Service, is said never to have hidden his opposition to leaving the EU.
Last year he said he was upset and amazed that the Government planned to break international agreements over Brexit. Mr Johnson and his ministers have repeatedly accused the Civil Service ‘blob’ of trying to frustrate Brexit.
This week Attorney General Suella Braverman said government efforts to ‘peel back’ EU laws were being held up by officials suffering from an ‘inability to conceive of the possibility of life outside the EU’.
While at the Foreign Office, Lord McDonald denied he had been demoralised by Brexit.
He was accused of heaping pressure on Mr Johnson during the Tory leadership contest over the handling of highly sensitive cables – criticising the Trump administration – sent to London by Lord Darroch, UK ambassador to Washington, who subsequently resigned. Lord McDonald was previously the British ambassador to Germany and to Israel.
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