Labour mayor of Greater Manchester joins those criticising Ratcliffe over his comments Sir Simon McDonald, the former permanent secretary of the Foreign Office, has urged No 10 to do “more due diligence” as it prepares to replace the cabinet secretary, Chris Wormald, with Antonia Romeo, the frontrunner for the role. Rowena Mason has the story.Steven Swinford from the Times says McDonald’s comments have provoked a furious backlash from people within government. He has posted this comment from a government source.This is a desperate attempt from a senior male official whose time has passed but spent their career getting Britain into the mess it finds itself in today. A computer says no culture, that cannot challenge the status quo.Antonia is a disrupter. She isn’t settled with the status quo. She is one of the few senior officials that has always fought against the computer says no culture embedded in the British state Continue reading...