Yesterday’s Times ran a story on Keir Starmer’s quest to find a new Chief of Staff, having sacked Sam White in October. Apparently Sir Keir is on the hunt for someone with “government experience” amid concerns that virtually nobody on his team actually has any. Rumours have been going around for weeks about the name floated in the piece: Sir Tom Scholar…

Scholar, of course, is the former Permanent Secretary at the Treasury – and in a previous life, Downing Street Chief of Staff under Gordon Brown. The fact he’s even being considered for that same job again under Starmer, having only been sacked on ideological grounds by Kwasi Kwarteng as the Treasury’s top civil servant four months ago, speaks volumes. “A friend of Scholar” is quoted saying he’d be “very unlikely” to take the job. “Former colleagues” add he’s “never been very political”. He also happened to be at Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls’ anniversary party at the weekend…

If Sir Keir makes him an offer he can’t refuse, however, there’s another problem: the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACoBA) might have a thing or two to say about it. Here are their rules on new appointments for ex-Permanent Secretaries:

“An application is required for any new appointment or employment that individuals wish to take up during the two year period after leaving office. All applications at this level must be referred by the Department to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (the Advisory Committee). The Advisory Committee provides advice to the Prime Minister, who makes the final decision.”

Which reads to Guido like Rishi himself would have to approve the appointment for his own opponent’s Chief of Staff, at least if Sir Keir wanted Scholar onboard within the next two years. “Do us a favour, Rishi”…

Guido’s still looking forward to seeing the details of Boris’s resignation honours; current rumours include a knighthood for Guto Harri, and peerages for Nadine Dorries, Paul Dacre and Nigel Adams. While we’re not expecting the honours for another month or so, it looks like Boris’s chums may have to wait a while longer before they receive their gongs.

It turns out Kwasi Kwarteng’s excellent decision to sack Treasury Permanent Secretary Tom Scholar didn’t just affect Whitehall’s economic outlook. A Cabinet Office update today reveals Scholar’s also lost his job as chairman of the main honours committee, the top body in charge of reviewing nominations.

The i previously reported Scholar was “keeping a close eye” on Boris’s honour nominations before being sent to the Palace to avoid embarrassing the Queen. There’s now a vacancy as the body’s chairman, with the government’s website merely saying it remains “to be confirmed.” Hopefully they can sort a replacement out quickly – Nadine needs to book an ermine fitting…

Tom Scholar’s sacking yesterday afternoon, first confirmed by Guido, naturally fell under the radar given the news from Balmoral that followed minutes later. The removal of the Treasury’s longstanding Permanent Secretary, however, could prove as influential on the next two years’ economic policy as Liz Truss’s £100+ billion splurge on energy price controls. Tom Scholar’s career was accidentally given an extra year when he was re-appointed as the Treasury’s Sir Humphrey in January 2021, just after Dominic Cummings’ departure. Tom had been a prominent member of Cummings’ civil service “sh*t list”…

Two years prior to Scholar’s sacking, to the day, Guido reported that six of Cummings’ list had been shown the door, many due to “Remainer” tendencies as one government source said. They included Jonathan Jones (Legal Department), Mark Sedwill (Cabinet Secretary), Simon McDonald (Foreign Office), Philip Rutnam (Home Office), Richard Heaton (Justice) and Jonathan Slater (Education). Two years later, Cummings’ mission is finally complete…

Naturally plenty of establishment, pro-blob sympathisers are outraged. David Gauke, Gus O’Donnell, Nick Macpherson and the FT’s Chris Giles all came out strongly against the move yesterday afternoon:

As far as reactions go, Liz and Kwasi couldn’t have hoped for better. As Liz says, the economy’s been failing for decades; we haven’t seen proper wage growth in 20 years. Steady hands, genteel lifetime service in the Civil Service and a history degree from Cambridge clearly hasn’t been working. Despite a 70-seat Tory majority, the establishment is still working against the elected mandate of the government to preserve their centrist way of governing. A shake-up is long overdue, and all the right people hate it…

Sir Tom Scholar is up in front of the Public Accounts Committee, and in his first answer confessed David Cameron personally lobbied him last April on behalf of Greensill. Asked if he gave Cameron more of a hearing as he’s a former PM Scholar said: “If a former minister that I’ve worked with asked to talk to me I will always do that… It’s natural when somebody that you know asks to speak to you, it’s quite natural to take that”. It’s been days without any developments…