🔗 Share this article

Prime Minister Starmer traveled to north Wales this past Thursday to declare the construction of a new nuclear power station. This is a significant policy event with both local and national implications. However, the PM did not devote much time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he used the time trying to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, telling reporters that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a small-scale example of what his prime ministership has now become overall. Firstly, he desires his administration to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to accomplish this because of the way he – and, to an extent, the nation more generally – now practices politics and government.

The Prime Minister is unable to change the culture of politics on his own, but he can do something about his own role in it. The simple truth is that he could manage the government's core much more effectively than he does. If he did this, he could discover that the nation was in less despair about his government than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Staffing Issues in Downing Street

Some of the issues in Downing Street are about personnel. The personal dynamics of any No 10 regime are hard to know accurately from the exterior. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must to up his game, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He hesitated about assigning the crucial role of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed a former official his chief of staff, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• He brought a Treasury figure in from the Treasury as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Advisors on politics and policy have entered and exited.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Core of Government

Every prime minister devote excessive time overseas and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little talking to MPs and listening to the citizens. Prime ministers also allocate too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their politically appointed staff, who tend to be party loyalists or ambitious in politics, cross lines or become the story, as the chief of staff now has.

The biggest issues, however, are structural. It would be good to think that Sir Keir reviewed the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 study on overhauling the centre of government. His inability to address these matters in the summer or afterward implies he did not. The often abject performance of Labour’s time in office indicates recommendations like restructuring the roles of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are now urgent.

The dominant political role of prime ministers far outdistances the support available to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the casualty of previous shortcomings along with the architect of present ones. But those who hoped Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir personally.