Helen MacNamara

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Helen Towers CB (née MacNamara) is a former senior British civil servant who served as the Deputy Cabinet Secretary in the Cabinet Office from 2020 to 2021. She had previously worked as Director General for Propriety and Ethics in the Cabinet Office between 2018 and 2020. Before then she was the Director General for Housing and Planning in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. As a Director in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport she worked on the London 2012 Olympic bid and staging of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Earlier in her career she worked as Principal Private Secretary to Tessa Jowell and was responsible for setting up the Leveson Inquiry and the subsequent cross-party response.[1]

Education and early career[]

MacNamara read History at Clare College, Cambridge.[2]

Before joining the Civil Service, she was a new media entrepreneur.[3] In 2002 she joined the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, working as principal private secretary to Tessa Jowell and on London's bid and preparations for the 2012 Olympic Games. In 2010 she was appointed director for media policy, and was responsible for setting up the Leveson Inquiry.[4]

From 2014 to 2016 MacNamara was Director of the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat at the Cabinet Office,[3] where she coordinated government preparations for the 2015 United Kingdom general election. In 2014, speaking at an event on “how women leaders succeed” at the Institute for Government, she said that EDS “run Cabinet and Cabinet Committees and we do lots of brokering to try to smooth the process for collective agreement.”[5] She also spoke with enthusiasm about “the disruptive power of change” and how “crisis creates the opportunity to be disruptive”. [6] In late 2015 she was involved in a tribunal case in which she argued that the frequency of cabinet committee meetings should not be made public. The Information and Rights Tribunal described her as "evasive and disingenuous", and her evidence as "fundamentally flawed and of no value whatever".[4]

From July 2016 to April 2018 MacNamara was Director General of Housing in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. She was responsible for government policy on housing including £25 billion of investment, the Homes and Communities Agency, the Planning Inspectorate and the planning system.[7]

In May 2018 she succeeded Sue Gray as Director General of the Propriety and Ethics Team in the Cabinet Office.[8] Speaking about the appointment, Sir Jeremy Heywood, the then Cabinet Secretary said: “She is a highly experienced civil servant who has worked in many senior roles across government. Her appointment will bring a wealth of knowledge and understanding of how government works, that will assist her in this crucial role.”[9] A government minister is reported to have described her as "a perfect official, fair-minded, doesn’t play games, will always try to get at the truth, capable of bringing sense out of five-sided talks”.[10]

Director General of Propriety and Ethics[]

In September 2019 some MPs called for MacNamara to investigate Dominic Cummings, an aide of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, after Cummings dismissed a Treasury aide, Sonia Khan.[11] In February 2020 former special advisers called on MacNamara to defend the workplace rights of ministerial aides, amid further complaints about Cummings' behaviour.[12] In February 2020, after claims that Home Secretary Priti Patel had bullied aides, The Times claimed that MacNamara "blocked" Patel's request for a formal leak inquiry into the claims, though the Cabinet Office denied that a formal request had been made.[13][14] MacNamara's report into the bullying allegations against Patel were delayed by the Prime Minister's hospitalisation in April.[15] The Labour Party called for the report to be made public,[16] and repeated the calls in mid-July amid rumours that MacNamara was resisting pressure from Downing Street to exonerate Patel.[17]

Deputy Cabinet Secretary[]

In spring 2020, MacNamara was promoted to become the Deputy Cabinet Secretary, a permanent secretary-level role in which she leads the Cabinet Secretariat group in the Cabinet Office and advises the Prime Minister on the operation of the cabinet government and collective agreement, machinery of government, propriety and ethics and the Special Adviser and Ministerial Codes. She also manages the government's relationship with independent offices established in statute, including the Civil Service Commission.[1]

In July 2020, it was erroneously reported that MacNamara would leave her job the next month, to become permanent secretary of an unspecified government department.[18][19][20]

In January 2021 it was announced that she would leave her job the next month in preparation for a move to the private sector later in the year.[21]

MacNamara was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 2021 Birthday Honours.[22]

Personal life[]

MacNamara featured in Management Today's list of 35 women leaders under 35 and in the 50 women to watch working in the cultural sector. She has been as a trustee of the Target Ovarian Cancer charity and a Governor of Goldsmiths College. She is married with 4 children.[1]

Offices held[]

Government offices
Preceded by Director General,
Propriety and Ethics
2018–2020 		Succeeded by
New title Deputy Cabinet Secretary,
Cabinet Office
2020–2021 		Role not directly continued

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Cabinet Office Biography https://www.gov.uk/government/people/helen-macnamara
  2. ^ Andrew Gimson, Profile: Helen MacNamara, who could yet hold Cummings’ fate in her hands, 28 May 2020. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b Women Leaders Series: Crossing the line - how women leaders succeed inside and outside government, 14 October 2014. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  4. ^ a b Tamsin Rutter, Ministry of Housing official appointed to succeed Sue Gray as Whitehall ethics chief, Civil Service World, 19 April 2018. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  5. ^ Institute for Government. "Women Leaders Series: Crossing the line - how women leaders succeed inside and outside government".
  6. ^ Gimson, Andrew. "Profile: Helen MacNamara, who could yet hold Cummings' fate in her hands". Conservative Home.
  7. ^ UK Government. "Cabinet Office biography".
  8. ^ Cabinet Office, New Director General of the Propriety and Ethics Team: Helen MacNamara, UK Government, 18 April 2018. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  9. ^ UK Government. "New Director General of the Propriety and Ethics Team: Helen MacNamara".
  10. ^ Conservative Home: Profile: Helen MacNamara, who could yet hold Cummings’ fate in her hands
  11. ^ Boris Johnson chief 'could face ethics probe' over aide's 'Mafia-style' sacking, Daily Mirror, 1 September 2019. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  12. ^ Alex Wickham, Boris Johnson Has Been Told His Downing Street Operation Is “Untenable” After Aides Sought Counselling Due To Stress, BuzzFeed News, 19 February 2020. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  13. ^ Dan Bloom, Priti Patel 'livid and demanding leak inquiry' over Home Office bullying storm, Daily Mirror, 24 February 2020. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  14. ^ Chloe Chaplain, Priti Patel and Home Office secretary Sir Philip Rutnam deny ‘false allegations’ of rift in joint statement, i (newspaper), 24 February 2020. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  15. ^ Christopher Hope, Priti Patel bullying report delayed for weeks while Boris Johnson is in hospital, The Telegraph, 9 April 2020. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  16. ^ Jonathon Read, Calls for Priti Patel bullying report to be made public amid claims she has been cleared, The New European, 29 April 2020. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  17. ^ Rob Merrick, Labour demands release of Priti Patel bullying report, amid claims of ‘political interference’, The Independent, 11 July 2020. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  18. ^ Patrick Maguire, Priti Patel inquiry chief pushed into new job, The Times, 16 July 2020. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  19. ^ Adrian Zorzut, Civil servant in charge of Priti Patel bullying investigation 'moved on' amid claims report will ‘embarrass’ No 10, The New European, 16 July 2020. Accessed 19 July 2020.
  20. ^ Cabinet Office Helen MacNamara is the Deputy Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Cabinet Secretariat UK Government. Accessed 12 January 2020.
  21. ^ "Deputy Cabinet Secretary to stand down" (Press release). GOV.UK. 21 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  22. ^ "No. 63377". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2021. p. B3.
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