Former civil service chief Sir Chris Wormald takes seat in House of Lords
Sir Chris Wormald, the former head of the civil service, has officially taken his seat in the House of Lords, reports BritPanorama.
Wormald, who led the civil service for 14 months during Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership, previously served as head of both the Department for Health and Social Care and the Department for Education.
Following the conclusion of his tenure as Cabinet secretary, he received a severance package worth £859,496, as detailed in the Cabinet Office’s annual report and accounts released earlier this week.
Now known as Lord Wormald, he will sit on the red benches as an independent crossbench peer. The formal introduction ceremony took place on Thursday morning, where he donned traditional scarlet robes.
During the ceremony, he made the solemn affirmation, stating: “I Christopher, Lord Wormald do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm, that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law.”
Wormald’s civil service career began in 1991 through the fast stream recruitment scheme at what was then the Department of Education and Science. His career trajectory included roles within the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Cabinet Office.
In 2010, he was appointed head of the deputy prime minister’s office during Nick Clegg’s tenure. He served as permanent secretary at the Department for Education from 2012 and later took over as head of the Department for Health and Social Care in 2016, working under seven health secretaries.
He succeeded Lord Case as Cabinet secretary in December 2024. At the time, Prime Minister Sir Keir remarked that there was “no-one better placed” to help with a “complete re-wiring of the British state to deliver bold and ambitious long-term reform.”
However, by late 2025, some insiders at Downing Street referred to him as “a parody of every civil service stereotype,” while reports described him as “insipid.”
Former Cabinet secretary Lord O’Donnell lambasted the anonymous briefings against Wormald as “shabby,” warning they exemplified significant failings during Sir Keir’s two-year premiership.
Wormald and Sir Keir reached a “mutual” decision for his departure in February 2025, with Dame Antonia Romeo subsequently appointed as his successor.
His severance payout is believed to set a record, significantly surpassing the £457,000 received by Sir Tom Scholar following his removal as Treasury chief under Liz Truss in 2022.
This week, Lord Wormald was among six peers introduced to the House of Lords. Former judge Sir Brian Leveson took his place on the crossbenches as Lord Leveson of Liverpool, while Sadiq Khan formally joined the Labour benches as Lord Khan of Tooting.
Additional new Labour peers, Lord McTague and Lord Neri, were introduced on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, alongside new Liberal Democrat peer Lord McCobb on Thursday.
