"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."
"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."
"It wouldn't be logical, however, to say Romeo was a controversially woke choice just because she was a civil servant; by that rationale, any cabinet secretary would be controversial. There are certainly conservatives who think so. One is named Liz Truss, who recently said on her YouTube channel that if there were a new series of Yes Minister, Humphrey Appleby would be a radicalised trans activist."
Antonia Romeo is expected to become the first female cabinet secretary and has been labeled the 'queen of woke' by conservative commentators. The label stems from civil service workplace conventions such as respecting pronouns, sick leave, and flexible or home working, which provoke anti-woke criticism. Anti-woke rhetoric often treats these conventions as emblematic of a broader cultural shift, and critics deploy 'common sense' without detailed argumentation. Critics like Liz Truss have made hyperbolic claims linking mandarins to radical identity politics. Romeo has held senior posts in every government since David Cameron, complicating simple partisan explanations for the controversy.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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