Antonia Romeo

Antonia Romeo
Antonia Romeo
Permanent Secretary for the Department for International Trade
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; March 2017
Prime Minister	Theresa May; Boris Johnson
Minister	Liam Fox; Liz Truss
Preceded by	Martin Donnelly
Director-General, Economic and Domestic Secretariat, Cabinet Office
	In office; February 2015 – October 2015
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Minister	Philip Hammond; Boris Johnson;
Ambassador	Sir Kim Darroch
Preceded by	Melanie Dawes
Succeeded by	Jonathan Slater
Her Majesty's Consul-General in New York
	In office; July 2016 – 2017
Prime Minister	David Cameron; Theresa May
Preceded by	Danny Lopez
Succeeded by	Antony Phillipson
Personal details
Born	Antonia Rice-Evans; 20 October 1974
Education	Brasenose College, Oxford (MA), Columbia University (MPA)

Antonia Romeo (born 20 October 1974) is a British civil servant.[1] She is currently serving as the Permanent Secretary at the Department for International Trade. She was recently British Consul-General in New York for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and concurrently Director-General for Economic and Commercial Affairs in the USA.

Early life

Romeo was educated at North London Collegiate School and then Westminster School.[2][3] From there she went to Brasenose College, Oxford, where she graduated with an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1996.[1]

Career

From Oxford, Romeo joined Oliver Wyman in 1996, where she worked for three years.[4] Romeo then took an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics, and in 2000 joined Her Majesty's Civil Service into the Lord Chancellor's Department as a professional economist. In 2004, Romeo became the head of the information rights division within the new Department for Constitutional Affairs, in charge of freedom of information and related government policies.[1]

In 2006, Romeo became Principal Private Secretary to the Lord Chancellor — initially The Lord Falconer, then from 2007 Jack Straw. In 2008, Romeo transferred to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as the Director of Whitehall Liaison Department, responsible with the FCO's relations with intelligence agencies and other government departments.[1][4]

Following the 2010 United Kingdom general election and the subsequent formation of the Cameron–Clegg coalition, Romeo transferred to the Cabinet Office as the Executive Director in the new Efficiency and Reform Group responsible for Government Reform, under Francis Maude. After 18 months, Romeo moved back to her original department, now called the Ministry of Justice, as Director-General for Transforming Justice. Two years later, in 2013, Romeo took over from Helen Edwards, combining her brief of "Justice Policy" and as Director-General for Criminal Justice.[5] After a further two years, she left in 2015, and was succeeded by Indra Morris.[6]

In 2015, Romeo served as the British government's "Special Envoy to the U.S. technology companies", and then as Director-General of the Economic and Domestic Secretariat in the Cabinet Office, replacing Melanie Dawes.[4][7][8] After eight months, Romeo moved to New York. Romeo then undertook the Advanced Management Programme at Columbia University.

In July 2016, Romeo was appointed Her Majesty’s Consul General in New York, replacing Danny Lopez. The role combined consular work with business work under the auspices of UK Trade & Investment.[9] She impressed Dr Liam Fox, then Secretary of State for International Trade, who intervened to ensure she was hired as Permanent Secretary DIT.

Controversies

Controversy

Several initiatives and activities conducted by Romeo in various of her senior roles have generated controversy in the media and among taxpayer and civil service organizations.

Ministry of Justice

While serving as Director General of the Ministry of justice, Romeo spearheaded the partial privatisation of probation services. The program received mixed reviews about its success, with media reporting “Ministers have admitted the entire system is ‘falling short of our ambitions’ and multi-billion-pound contracts with private firms will have to be renegotiated as part of a review’.

Responsibility for this program was cited by critics when it was announced that Romeo had been promoted to the role of Permanent Secretary, Department of International Trade.

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said: ‘The chief behind the botched probation scheme is now being asked to organise the biggest series of simultaneous trade negotiations in history.”[10]

Consul General of New York

Cambridge Analytica

While serving as Consul General in New York, Romeo offered assistance to controversial company Cambridge Analytica in landing more clients in the U.S. Romeo and trade officers working on her team discussed having Cambridge Analytica feature in a campaign to promote British technology companies, called "#dataisGREAT". The company was found to have appropriated data from Facebook users without permission, resulting in public outcry and congressional review. The company later closed. [11]

Permanent Secretary, Department of International Trade

Violating Civil Service Code on Objectivity

Romeo came under fire from Jonathan Portes of the Byline Times for tweeting a statement from U.S. Vice President Mike Pence asserting “A free trade agreement between the US and the UK could increase trade between our two countries three to four times.”

The criticism claimed that Romeo’s repetition of statement on social media, from her position as Permanent Secretary of DIT, violated the Civil Service Code by endorsing a statement known to be untrue. Portes called the move by Romeo problematic because it violated the “objectivity and non-politicisation of the Civil Service.”[12]

Misuse of Taxpayer Funds

Romeo was appointed as Permanent Secretary of the Department of International Trade in March 2017 and remained in New York City, commuting to London for the role on a frequent basis. The arrangement attracted attention in the media for generating costs of more than £31,000 on travel, including business class flights, and accommodation for eight 7,000-mile round trips for meetings in London from April to the end of July, according to official figures. Romeo formally relocated to London at the end of that summer.

Offices held

Government offices
New title	Director-General, Transforming Justice Ministry of Justice 2011–2013	Succeeded by Herself as Director-General, Criminal Justice
Preceded by Helen Edwards as Director-General, Justice Policy	Director-General, Criminal Justice Ministry of Justice 2013–2015	Succeeded by Indra Morris
Preceded by Herself as Director-General, Transforming Justice		Succeeded by Indra Morris
Preceded by Melanie Dawes	Director-General, Economic and Domestic Secretariat, Cabinet Office February–October 2015	Succeeded by Jonathan Slater
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Danny Lopez as HM Consul-General NYC and Director-General, USA	Her Majesty's Consul-General in New York, Foreign & Commonwealth Office July 2016–2017	Succeeded by Antony Phillipson
	Director-General, Economic and Commercial Affairs USA, UK Trade & Investment July 2016–2017	Succeeded by Antony Phillipson

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References

"ROMEO, Antonia". Who's Who. A & C Black. 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
"Old North Londoners — ONL Profiles: Antonia Romeo". North London Collegiate School. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
"Overseas OWW". Westminster School (OWW Online). Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
"Antonia Romeo named Her Majesty's Consul General in New York". www.consultancy.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
"Inspirational Woman: Antonia Romeo | Director General Criminal Justice". WeAreTheCity. 18 November 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
Ministry of Justice (10 June 2015). "Ministry of Justice Annual Report and Accounts 2014–15" (PDF). gov.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
"Antonia Romeo on David Cameron's new Implementation Taskforces and getting delivery right | Civil Service World". www.civilserviceworld.com. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
"Antonia Romeo - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
"Change of Her Majesty's Consul General in New York". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
"Antonia Romeo confirmed as UK trade perm sec – Government & civil service news". Retrieved 13 August 2020.
Stefano, Alex Spence, Mark Di. "Cambridge Analytica Wanted To Crack Trump's Washington. "Our Job Is To Help You," A Top British Official Told Them". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
Times <info@bylinetimes.com> (https://bylinetimes.com/), Byline (9 September 2019). "The Compromising of Our Civil Service with Propagandists Matters Now More than Ever". Byline Times. Retrieved 13 August 2020.

External links

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[:0-1] "ROMEO, Antonia". Who's Who. A & C Black. 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2016.

[2] "Old North Londoners — ONL Profiles: Antonia Romeo". North London Collegiate School. Retrieved 13 June 2018.

[3] "Overseas OWW". Westminster School (OWW Online). Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.

[:2-4] "Antonia Romeo named Her Majesty's Consul General in New York". www.consultancy.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2016.

[5] "Inspirational Woman: Antonia Romeo | Director General Criminal Justice". WeAreTheCity. 18 November 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2016.

[6] Ministry of Justice (10 June 2015). "Ministry of Justice Annual Report and Accounts 2014–15" (PDF). gov.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2016.

[7] "Antonia Romeo on David Cameron's new Implementation Taskforces and getting delivery right | Civil Service World". www.civilserviceworld.com. Retrieved 9 July 2016.

[8] "Antonia Romeo - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2016.

[:1-9] "Change of Her Majesty's Consul General in New York". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2016.

[10] "Antonia Romeo confirmed as UK trade perm sec – Government & civil service news". Retrieved 13 August 2020.

[11] Stefano, Alex Spence, Mark Di. "Cambridge Analytica Wanted To Crack Trump's Washington. "Our Job Is To Help You," A Top British Official Told Them". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 13 August 2020.

[12] Times <info@bylinetimes.com> (https://bylinetimes.com/), Byline (9 September 2019). "The Compromising of Our Civil Service with Propagandists Matters Now More than Ever". Byline Times. Retrieved 13 August 2020.