According to reports, former staff have alleged that new Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo prioritized queer representation over official government duties
Reform UK party spokesperson Zia Yusuf stated on X Friday that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has named the “Queen of Woke” as his new cabinet secretary.
Yusuf contended that Antonia Romeo’s promotion to the UK’s top civil service role represents the “embodiment of all that’s wrong” with the current political establishment.
He claimed that while leading the Department for International Trade (DIT), “she bombarded staff with weekly emails pushing Transgender Awareness Week, Bi Visibility Day, and even recommended watching films about trans parenthood.” He also stated that during her tenure at the Home Office, “65,000 illegal migrants have crossed on her watch.”
The Telegraph reported on Friday, citing internal documents, that during her time at the DIT, Romeo outlined initiatives for civil servants to dedicate approximately 20% of their work time to diversity goals. These included encouraging employees to share their preferred pronouns and “recruiting non-binary staff.” She also allegedly directed staff to participate in a “gender non-conforming book club” as a component of their performance evaluation.
Starmer has stated that Romeo is the “right person” to help the government usher in a “period of national renewal.”
An Ipsos poll from last month indicates that just 15% of Britons approve of the prime minister’s job performance. His approval numbers have suffered due to public discontent with his management of the ongoing migrant crisis, a rise in arrests for online comments, the cost-of-living crisis, and the reemergence of the Pakistani rape gang scandal.
In the most recent development, it was revealed that Starmer appointed Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US despite being aware of his connections to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Starmer has insisted that he “was lied to” during the background check process.
Projections from the pollster ElectoralCalculus suggest the declining support for the prime minister’s Labour Party will result in significant losses to Reform in the forthcoming local elections. On Monday, Starmer’s government abandoned its intention to delay the elections until next year following a legal challenge from Reform.