🔗 Share this article

Prime Minister Starmer traveled to north Wales on Thursday to declare the development of a new nuclear power station. This is a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. However, the prime minister did not devote extensive time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he spent it attempting to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, informing reporters that No 10 had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a small-scale example of what his prime ministership has evolved into overall. Firstly, he desires his administration to be performing, and to be seen to be doing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to accomplish this due to the manner he – and, to an extent, the country more generally – now conducts political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir cannot change the culture of politics on his own, but he is able to do something about his own role in it. The simple truth is that he could manage the centre of government far better than he does. If he did this, he could discover that the nation was in less despair about his government than it is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Staffing Issues in No 10

Some of the problems in Downing Street relate to personnel. The interpersonal relations of any No 10 regime are difficult to discern accurately from the exterior. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Perhaps he is too busy. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. But he needs to up his game, avoid slow progress or by halves.

• He hesitated about assigning the key job of top civil servant to Chris Wormald.
• He made Sue Gray his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Core of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little conversing with MPs and hearing the citizens. Prime ministers also allocate too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir worsens by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot claim to be surprised when their political appointees, who are often party loyalists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the story, as the chief of staff has recently.

The most significant problems, though, are structural. It would be good to think that Sir Keir reviewed the Institute for Government’s March 2024 report on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to address these matters in the summer or since suggests he did not. The often abject performance of the Labour administration suggests recommendations like reorganizing the functions of the central government office and No 10, and separating the positions of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

The political pre-eminence of PMs far outdistances the support available to them. As a result, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or ignored.

This isn't Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He is the casualty of previous shortcomings as well as the author of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the core and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Sadly, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.