A Mandarin who became notorious for her love of working from home has been made a dame.
Sarah Healey infamously boasted that Covid-era lockdowns meant she could see more of her children as well as giving her longer to ride her expensive exercise bike.
‘I have a Peloton and I can just get on my bike whenever I have a teeny bit of time. That has been a huge benefit to my well-being – the lack of travelling time eating into my day,’ the then permanent secretary for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport told a conference in 2021.
Her comments prompted Tory ministers to tell civil servants they ‘need to get off their Pelotons and get back to their desks’, as she became synonymous with the working from home culture that took hold in the public sector during the pandemic years.
But Ms Healey’s career was unaffected as she became Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in 2023, where she is now paid over £180,000 a year.
And in today’s King’s Birthday Honours list she becomes a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath.
Another controversial Whitehall recipient of a gong is a borders chief on whose watch the Channel migrant crisis has exploded.
Phil Douglas, Director General of Border Force, is made Companion of the Order of the Bath ‘for services to Border Security and Public Service’.
Sarah Healey (pictured) infamously boasted that Covid-era lockdowns meant she could see more of her children as well as giving her longer to ride her expensive exercise bike
Phil Douglas, (pictured) Director General of Border Force, was made Companion of the Order of the Bath ‘for services to Border Security and Public Service’
Political figures named in the honours list include former Tory minister Penny Mordaunt (pictured)
But since his appointment in November 2021, at least 129,000 immigrants have arrived in Britain illegally via dinghies.
Last night a Reform UK source told the Mail: ‘Once again we are seeing the Government reward utter failure.
‘Productivity has taken a hammering thanks to these mandarins allowing a lazy work from home culture. A Reform government is going to trim the fat and get the civil service working again.’
And a Tory source said: ‘Keir Starmer doesn’t run a meritocracy – he runs a mediocrity.
‘Dishing out gongs for incompetence and shirking from home sends the signal loud and clear that mediocre middle managers are in charge now.’
Former minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, who led the drive to get civil servants back to their desks, told the Mail: ‘It is much more honest to say these awards are automatic and not pretend it’s discretionary, when they get given to people who don’t turn up to work.
‘They are part of the patronage system used by ministers to oil the wheels of government.’
Political figures named in the honours list include former Tory minister Penny Mordaunt, famed for her role carrying a sword at the King’s Coronation, who is made a dame.
She said: ‘It is lovely to be appreciated in this way, and I’m very conscious that everything I have ever got done has been with the help and efforts of others.’
Serving Labour MP Chi Onwurah also becomes a dame, while party whip Mark Tami receives a knighthood. And Peter Hyman, a former adviser to both Sir Tony Blair and Sir Keir Starmer, is awarded a CBE.
