🔗 Share this article

Prime Minister Starmer visited Wales' northern region this past Thursday to declare the building of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a significant policy event with both local and national implications. However, the prime minister did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to advocating solutions for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he used the time trying to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, telling reporters that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a small-scale example of what his prime ministership has evolved into overall. Firstly, 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 manner he – and, to an extent, the nation as a whole – now conducts political and governmental affairs.

The Prime Minister is unable to change the political culture single-handedly, but he can do something about his personal involvement 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 dismay about his administration than it is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Staffing Issues in Downing Street

Some of the problems in Number 10 relate to individuals. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are hard to know well from outside. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Perhaps he is too busy. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to improve his performance, not do things slowly or by halves.

• He hesitated about giving the key job of top civil servant to a senior official.
• He appointed a former official his chief of staff, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Heart of the Administration

Every prime minister spend too much time abroad and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and insufficient time talking to parliamentarians and listening to the public. Prime ministers also allocate 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 tend to be party loyalists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the focus, as the chief of staff has recently.

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 centre of government. His failure to address these matters last July or since implies he did not. The frequently dismal performance of Labour’s time in office suggests IfG proposals like reorganizing the functions of the central government office and Downing Street, and dividing the jobs of top official and civil service head, are now urgent.

The dominant political role of prime ministers greatly exceeds the assistance provided to them. Consequently, all aspects suffer, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the victim of previous shortcomings along with the author of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and prioritize governmental structures have been disappointed. Unfortunately, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.