That cut short Robbins’ mission to deliver a radical program of departmental reform by 2030 — and now insiders complain this has left the department, once a prized part of the British government machine, rudderless and fearful for what comes next. This additional pressure comes at an unusually busy time in foreign affairs, when Starmer is keen to project confidence on the world stage.
Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA trade union representing civil servants, said the ministry had “lost a really visible leader” and now there was “turmoil, because someone’s now got to try and pick up that mantle not in a planned transfer of power, but in a crisis they didn’t need.”
‘State of shock’
Robbins was in charge of the “FCDO 2030” project, which aimed to reduce the department’s overall headcount between 15 and 25 percent — removing around 2,000 jobs — by the end of the decade.
Under the efficiency drive, staff were forced to reapply for their own roles in a “job-matching” exercise, which is due to conclude in mid-May, letting people know whether they would continue in post, be moved elsewhere, or made redundant. The overall transformation program is expected to go ahead as planned under Robbins’ interim replacement, Nick Dyer.
One FCDO official, granted anonymity to speak candidly like others in this piece, said staff had been left “in a state of shock” in the immediate aftermath of Robbins’ removal, noting there was already “agitation bordering on grievance” about departmental reforms, with the change of leadership only leading to “more uncertainty and challenge.”
A second official said that the mood was “in the toilet” and the department faced “losing all the wrong people, and at the same time, I just don’t understand what the priorities are.”