He has been called "something more akin to James Bond than a top civil servant, and his nickname in his previous appointment as permanent secretary at the Department for Education and Skills was ‘the smiling assassin’ He is also described as ‘extremely charming’, ‘civilised and urbane’ – and a ‘tough nut'. One of Normington's lasting legacies in the DfES was his decision to reduce the Department's workforce by approximately a third, made in 2003. This decision came in advance of the subsequent budget announcing a large reduction of the civil service as a whole, leading some to speculate that Normington had made his own cuts early in an attempt to curry favour. He applied for the job of Cabinet Secretary but was beaten by Sir Gus O'Donnell, due to concerns that his appointment would dangerously damage Civil Service morale.