![]() ![]() Washington has been rife with specu- lation over whether McCarthy would visit Taipei. The venue change comes as the US steps up contingency planning for the region - one of the world’s most danger- ous flashpoints - and highlights the impact of China’s military posturing to constrain Taiwan and undermine its de facto independence. The Califor- nia Republican had said last year that he wanted to visit the country if elected to the top leadership post in the House. Several people familiar with the situa- tion said that Tsai and McCarthy had agreed to meet in the US because of Tai- wanese security concerns. Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen has persuaded US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to meet in California rather than Taipei to avoid an aggressive Chi- nese military response, as tensions run high between Beijing and Washingt on. ” One Cabinet Office official said that they considered a departure this year very unlikely. There are a lot of Conservatives who dislike the civil service, but who can name only one civil servant. Downing Street said: “The cabinet secretary has the confidence of the prime minister and that has not changed.” One person close to Case said that the WhatsApp messages contained “casual language being used in a casual set- ting. Case has also drawn scrutiny for his knowledge of Johnson’s personal finan- cial relationship with the chair of the BBC and for the government’s response to bullying allegations against Dominic Raab, the justice secretary. One senior official said: “Simon didn’t stand up for his own people over partyg- ate,” adding that junior staff were issued with fines for attending events happen- ing on his watch. Among Case’s fellow officials, there is particular concern about his handling of “partygate”, which centred on rule- breaking in Downing Street and White- hall during Covid restrictions in 20. ” While friends of the cabinet secretary say that he has continued to receive sup- port from his colleagues, he is also said to be “fed up”. “I can’t see how Simon Case survives this,” one senior Tory backbencher told the Financial Times, “especially if there are more messages of his directly slag- ging off othe r m inist ers. When designing a communications strategy, Case said that then-prime min- ister Boris Johnson, who had poor per- sonal polling, was “nationally dis- trusted”. In the messages, Case describes some opposition to Covid-19 restrictions as “pure Conservative ideology”. Case has come under pressure from Conservative MPs this week regarding WhatsApp messages that appeared in The Telegraph as a part of a trove of leaked material. Simon Case, cabinet secretary, has told friends that he is “genuinely undecided” between trying to guide the civil service through a general election next year and resigning this year to give his successor a chance to bed in before the possible for- mation of a new government. ![]()
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