Cabinet secretary frontrunner faced multiple bullying complaints

The frontrunner to be the next head of the UK civil service faced allegations from several people about her behaviour when she was a senior diplomat in New York, according to documents seen by the BBC.

Former officials have told the BBC that it is "disingenuous" for the Cabinet Office to state that there had only been a single official complaint.

Dame Antonia Romeo is currently the senior civil servant at the Home Office and is highly regarded by some in Whitehall for her ability to get things done.

But claims about her conduct when she was the UK's consul general in New York a decade ago have led to critics to question her suitability for the role of cabinet secretary, which would put her at the head of the civil service.

The government says three allegations relating to her use of expenses and bullying of staff when she was in New York were investigated and there was "no case to answer".

The Cabinet Office said the three allegations were from a single complaint, that she had been spoken to about her management style after the complaint had been dismissed, and that no similar claims have been raised in any of her other roles.

Sources have told the BBC there had, in fact, been complaints about Dame Antonia's conduct in New York from several people.

Sir Matthew Rycroft, who was the UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York when Dame Antonia was consul general and Rupert McNeil, the government's then head of human resources have both said in recent days that there were was just one complaint.

But a source told the BBC: "To argue publicly that there was just one complaint is willfully misleading. They were presented to London in one dossier, but there were multiple complaints."

In documents setting out the complaints, Dame Antonia is described as behaving in an "unreasonable," "degrading," and "demeaning" way towards staff and of being more interested in promoting her own "personal brand" on social media than that of the UK government.

"She's a diplomat, not a D-list celebrity. My 15-year-old, social media obsessed, brother is less shameless in his self-promotion," reads some contemporaneous testimony.

One member of the UK's team described feeling "emotionally battered".

As the UK's consul general between 2016 and 2017 Dame Antonia's job involved promoting UK trade and business in New York, in the immediate aftermath of the referendum to take Britain out of the EU.

The BBC has learned that 47% of staff in New York said they had experienced bullying in the workplace in an annual staff survey - the highest level ever recorded anywhere in the Foreign Office.

It is understood that in most government departments or divisions the figure is usually in low single figures.

The survey covered a 12 month period, including three months in which Dame Antonia was in post.

Dame Antonia's critics acknowledge her abilities in documents seen by the BBC, with one saying she was "smart, dynamic and really talented." Another said she was an "extremely intelligent, innovative thinker".

But there was also criticism of her management style, with one person saying she was "very demanding, very disrespectful, very threatening".

"I'm used to big egos but this was something else. The minute she heard the word 'no' she'd say I'll go to your boss. But it was worse than that. She would go to your boss's boss and your boss's boss's boss," they added.

Someone else told us: "If you don't say 'yes' to her she's not only going to screw your career, but she'll screw all of those around you."

Her approach, it was claimed, "inflames rather than calms a situation" and "creates a culture of fear and anxiety".

The majority of the complaints seen by the BBC were from female members of staff.

The allegations were so serious a former ambassador to Japan, Sir Tim Hitchens, was flown to New York to look into it.

His work examined allegations of "bullying behaviour, financial probity, and putting her private objectives above those of the wider Consulate-General or government".

The BBC has been told the Foreign Office's investigation concluded there was a case for Dame Antonia to answer about her behaviour towards colleagues, but there was no case to answer about what was called "financial probity" and is understood to refer to expenses.

A Cabinet Office source said: "The fact that selective excerpts are now being resurfaced, almost a decade on, to substantiate vexatious anonymous briefings from disgruntled individuals is frankly unconscionable."

An email from the time raised concerns about Dame Antonia's use of social media.

It said: "Antonia's obsession with promoting her personal brand over the work and priorities of HMG has created an untenably tense and bullying atmosphere for all staff".

Staff also reported, as one put it, that Romeo insisted they "frame articles in Vogue and the New Yorker about her and place them in the Residence guest bathroom directly in the line of site at all angles so that regardless of, um, how you use the bathroom, you have to stare at a photo of her in a magazine spread staring back at you."

One former colleague said in an email: "I'm extremely alarmed that Antonia, who holds one of the highest diplomatic positions here in the United States, seems to be focusing an undue amount on building her personal Twitter brand."

Government sources say the magazine interviews were arranged by the Foreign Office communications team and it is the role of any diplomat overseas to promote the UK and British brands, including on social media.

Dame Antonia has held a string of senior roles since her time in New York and is currently one of three figures sharing the role of cabinet secretary on an interim basis, following the departure of Sir Chris Wormald last week.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: "Antonia Romeo is an outstanding leader with 25 years of public service. She has been appointed to three different Permanent Secretary roles and has led hundreds of thousands of public servants to deliver for governments of all stripes.

"As we have repeatedly said, one formal complaint was raised nine years ago which was thoroughly investigated. The allegations were dismissed on the basis that there was no case to answer.

"It is entirely inappropriate to resurface dismissed HR proceedings almost a decade later."