The country’s top woman civil servant is clinging to her £180,000-a-year job after being accused by MPs of a 'catastrophic failure of leadership' on securing Britain's borders.

Lin Homer's disastrous tenure in charge of the UK Border Agency lead to a huge backlog of hundreds of thousands of immigration cases.
But astonishingly she emerged unscathed and was rewarded with promotion through the civil service and is now in charge of HM Revenue and Customs.
The powerful home affairs committee today said they were ‘astounded’ she was considered suitable for the job of collecting the nation’s taxes.

Chairman Keith Vaz hit out at 'incompetent' Mrs Homer receiving £20,000 in bonuses despite leaving the UKBA in a 'worst position' than when she started.
There were also signs ministers were finally losing faith with the mandarin.

A senior Whitehall source said: ‘There are increasing concerns from ministers as to why there are no penalties for poor performance in the civil service. Instead what we have is a “promotions-all-round” culture.

Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary
HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary is responsible for providing leadership and direction to the department. The Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary runs all aspects of HMRC’s business, ensuring delivery of the strategic objectives and leading continuous improvement.

Controversy and alleged incompetence
In 2005, Homer was criticised by the Election Commissioner for failings in her role as returning officer during a postal vote-rigging scandal involving Labour candidates the previous year, described by the Commissioner as one that "would disgrace a banana republic", and involving hundreds of votes failing to be counted. Homer defended her role to the Election Commission, saying she had been in "strategic, not operational control", and had confined herself to "motivational management and fire fighting".

Homer resigned from her post shortly afterwards, joining the civil service as the Director-General heading the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office, in August 2005. The Home Office was re-organised in 2008, with the formation of the Border and Immigration Agency, later renamed the UK Border Agrency, of which Homer became the first chief executive. In 2013, Homer's tenure at UKBA was criticised for its "catastrophic leadership failure" by the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, which said it had been repeatedly misled by the Agency. Committee chairman Keith Vaz said her performance was "more like the scene of a Whitehall farce than a government agency operating in the 21st century". Homer responded in a letter to the committee, saying that "The suggestion that I deliberately misled the Committee and refused to apologise are both untrue and unfair," adding that "It is therefore wholly inaccurate and unfair to seek to ascribe responsibility to me for matters of concern that occurred long after I left the Agency."

In 2010 it was announced that Homer would replace Robert Devereuxas Permanent Secretary of the Department for Transport . While serving in this role, the Department dealt with the controversial franchise letting process for West Coast Mainline rail network. Homer was among officials accused by Sir Richard Branson, head of Virgin Trains, of ignoring concerns about the letting process, whose failure is estimated to have cost £100 million.

In December 2011 it was announced that Homer would succeed Lesley Strathie as Chief Executive of HMRC. In March 2013, HMRC was criticised by the House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee for its "unambitious and woefully inadequate" response to a report from the UK National Audit Office in December 2012 concerning poor customer service by HMRC. Homer has said that the agency has "turned a corner" in dealing with the 79 million calls and 25 million pieces of post received by HMRC each year, having injected £34 million to tackle the problem with that aim of reaching a 90 per cent success rate.

Homer's appointment to head of HMRC prompted criticism centred on her record in previous positions. However, her appointment was supported by David Gauke, the Exchequer Secretary to the UK Treasury, who said "She is a highly effective chief executive and the right person to lead HMRC"