🔗 Share this article

Prime Minister Starmer traveled to north Wales on Thursday to announce the building of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the prime minister did not dedicate much time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he spent it trying to put an end to the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, informing journalists that No 10 had not undermined the health secretary's goals in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a small-scale example of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. On the one hand, he wants his government to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. On the other hand, he is incapable to achieve this due to the way he – and, partly, the nation as a whole – now conducts political and governmental affairs.

The Prime Minister is unable to transform the political culture single-handedly, but he can do something about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could manage the centre of government far better than he does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the nation was in less despair about his administration than it is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Staffing Issues in No 10

A number of the problems in Downing Street are about individuals. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation 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. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to improve his performance, 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 top aide, then substituted her with a political strategist.
• He brought a Treasury figure in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have been frequently replaced.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Core of Government

All premiers spend too much time overseas and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little talking to parliamentarians and hearing the public. Premiers also spend too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot claim to be surprised when their political appointees, who are often party loyalists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the story, as Mr McSweeney has recently.

The most significant problems, however, are structural. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 report on reforming the centre of government. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or afterward suggests he did not. The frequently dismal experience of the Labour administration indicates recommendations like restructuring the functions of the central government office and No 10, and dividing the positions of top official and civil service head, are currently critical.

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

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the casualty of previous shortcomings along with the architect of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Sadly, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir himself.