SIR KEIR STARMER is facing a new bullying crisis as allegations swirl around his pick to head the Civil Service.

Dame Antonia Romeo, who currently heads the Home Office, has been subjected to claims that she bullied several staff when a senior diplomat in New York.

She is understood to be favourite to succeed Chris Wormald as Cabinet Secretary, after Sir Keir bundled him out amid the recent Downing Street chaos.

The BBC has reported that the charges against Dame Antonia relate to her use of expenses and the bullying of staff while Britain’s consul-general in New York nine years ago.

It quotes one person as saying she was “very demanding, very disrespectful, very threatening,” with another commenting: “My 15-year-old, social-media-obsessed brother is less shameless in his self-promotion.”

However, the government claims that the allegations were probed at the time and it was found there was “no case to answer.”