If Starmer’s top civil servant really is the ‘queen of woke’, then let’s agree that word has lost all meaning | Zoe Williams

2026-02-11 - 17:45

The incoming cabinet secretary, Antonia Romeo, worked under the notoriously woke David Cameron and Theresa May. Maybe she was a double agent? Antonia Romeo is expected to become the first female cabinet secretary shortly, an appointment that is “controversial”, according to conservative commentators, since the mandarin is the “queen of woke”. But how did she come by that title? What are her woke credentials – and how did she rise to preeminence? The civil service itself often sets off the woke tripwire, owing to workplace conventions such as respecting people’s pronouns and having sick leave. Often it’s even less specific, a vague but fiery opposition confected by someone who is anti-woke. So Jacob Rees-Mogg might take issue with the civil service allowing home working, and it will be a classic battle against woke (similar to Nigel Farage lumping in council employees who work from home with those working on DEI or climate). If you were asked to explain verbally why commuting to an office is conservative and working from home is liberal, you’d struggle: but nobody has to, because anti-woke warriors fight under the banner of common sense, which doesn’t have to show its workings. Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...