Bristol civil servant at the heart of Party Gate scandal

He was initially rumoured to be the Prime Minister’s scapegoat for Party Gate.

Simon Case is the UK's highest-ranking public official who has found himself at the heart of the Party Gate scandal in Westminster. The senior civil servant from Bristol is not planning to resign despite reports last week that Boris Johnson was to make him scapegoat amid the damning findings in the Sue Gray report.

Last Wednesday (May 25th), it was revealed that the Prime Minister would not be sacking the Bristol civil servant over Party Gate. Mr Case is pictured in a photograph of the Sue Gray report standing around the Cabinet table at Boris Johnson's birthday party in June 2020 and did not receive a fine - but who is the Bristol public official at the forefront of the scandal this week?

Simon Case was born on December 27th, 1978. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge, studying history. He is married to Elizabeth Kistruck, chief finance officer for Hotels.com at Expedia Inc, and they have three daughters.

He first joined the civil service in 2006 to work for the Ministry of Defence and has since held various positions helping the Government. In March 2015, he joined Government Communications Headquarters as Director of Strategy.

In August 2020, he became the youngest Cabinet Secretary when Mr Johnson selected him for the role of Cabinet and Head of the Home Civil Service, succeeding Mark Sedwill on 9th September 2020. The Prime Minister initially assigned Mr Case as the leader of the Westminster Christmas parties controversy - dubbed Party Gate - in December 2021.

However, a week later, on December 17th, it was announced that he was to recuse himself from the inquiry because of reports that a party had been held in his private office. Sue Gray took over his role as the lead on the investigations.

Mr Case said both the Government and Cabinet Office had "taken responsibility" for the events set out in the Party Gate report on Wednesday when Sue Gray's full report was released publicly, the Telegraph reports.

In a defiant email to staff seen by ITV News, Mr Case noted the need to "take the time to reflect on the report in full and consider the issues it has highlighted".

Mr Case added: "There have been significant changes in Number 10, and steps have also been taken to strengthen the corporate leadership across the Cabinet Office and Number 10."

Many people - including civil servants and union representatives - awaited the resignation of the senior civil servant amid the findings. One former leading civil servant told the Guardian that the events in the report poorly reflected on Mr Case, but the lack of sanction against him was unsurprising, they added. “He is joined at the hip with the Prime Minister. If Simon Case had gone, that would have completely exposed Johnson. He’s a shield."