Theresa May pays tribute to 'exemplary' Sir Jeremy Heywood as top civil servant steps down on health grounds
2 min read
Theresa May has heaped praise on Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood after Britain's top civil servant resigned on health grounds.
Sir Jeremy - who has served as Cabinet Secretary since 2012 and advised four Prime Ministers in key Number 10 roles - stepped back from the post in June to receive treatment for cancer.
The Whitehall insider's absence had originally been billed as a three-month pause, but Downing Street announced today that the top official would be permanently succeeded by Mrs May's former permanent secretary at the Home Office, Sir Mark Sedwill.
In a statement, the Prime Minister said: "Jeremy has given exemplary service to the public in his civil service career.
"He has worked constantly to improve our country’s future and to deliver for the public, serving Prime Ministers and Ministers of all parties with distinction in the finest traditions of the civil service.
"I am personally grateful to him for the support he has given me as Prime Minister. He has made an enormous contribution to public life in our country and will be sorely missed."
Sir Jeremy said: "35 years ago I joined the civil service as an enthusiastic young economist in the Health and Safety Executive, full of ideas and keen to make change happen.
"Today, I still have all that desire to serve my country and to make a positive difference. It is with great sadness therefore that, on medical advice, I must now retire."
The outgoing Cabinet Secretary - who Number 10 said would be nominated for a life peerage - also used his resignation statement to push back at media briefings against top civil servants amid a heated debate over their role in Brexit.
He said: "During my time in charge, I have encouraged the civil service to be more open, more diverse, more inclusive in its culture and more professional in all that it does.
"And, despite a number of recent 'noises off' from anonymous commentators, I believe that the service is in robust health, well-equipped to provide the support the country needs over the coming months and years."
Sir Mark - who has been doing the job on an interim basis since the summer - said the departing civil service head had had a "profound, positive and lasting impact" on government, and would be "greatly missed".
Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn paid tribute to Sir Jeremy as an "impressive, well-informed and dedicated public servant".
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