🔗 Share this article

Sir Keir Starmer visited north Wales this past Thursday to declare the building of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This is a significant policy event with implications at local and countrywide levels. Yet, the PM did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to advocating answers for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he used the time trying to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, informing reporters that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary's goals in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a small-scale example of what his prime ministership has evolved into overall. Firstly, he desires his government to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to achieve this because of the way he – and, partly, the nation as a whole – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir is unable to transform the culture of politics on his own, but he is able to do something about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could run the government's core far better than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the country was in less despair about his administration than it is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Personnel Problems in No 10

A number of the problems in Downing Street relate to individuals. The personal dynamics of any No 10 regime are difficult to discern 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. But he needs to up his game, avoid slow progress or by halves.

• He dithered about assigning the key job of top civil servant to a senior official.
• 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 chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Core of the Administration

All premiers spend too much time abroad and on international matters, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time conversing with parliamentarians and listening to the citizens. Prime ministers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot claim to be surprised when their politically appointed staff, who are often party activists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the focus, as the chief of staff now has.

The biggest issues, however, are systemic. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's March 2024 study on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to address these matters last July or since suggests he did not. The often abject performance of the Labour administration indicates recommendations like restructuring the functions of the central government office and Downing Street, and separating the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

The dominant political role of prime ministers greatly exceeds the assistance provided to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or ignored.

This isn't Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the casualty of previous shortcomings as well as the architect of present ones. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir might get a grip on the centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Unfortunately, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.