Wormald had the most experience running government departments of any of the candidates, having been in charge of the Department of Health since 2016.
His appointment follows the resignation on health grounds of Simon Case, who was appointed in September 2020 and served through one of the most tumultuous periods of recent British history.
Case’s tenure, which began under Boris Johnson, spanned the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the market meltdown induced by Liz Truss’s mini-budget and her subsequent resignation, the appointment of a new prime minister in Rishi Sunak, the outbreak of wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and a general election that resulted in a completely new government under Starmer.
This developing story is being updated.