Number 10 Downing Street Fails to Be Up to the Job

Sir Keir Starmer visited north Wales on Thursday to reveal the construction of a new nuclear power station. This represents a significant policy event with both local and national implications. Yet, the PM did not devote extensive time in Wales to advocating solutions 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 undermined the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his premiership has evolved into more generally. On the one hand, he wants his government to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, significant actions. On the other hand, he is unable to accomplish this due to the way he – and, to an extent, the country as a whole – now conducts politics and government.

The Prime Minister cannot change the culture of politics on his own, 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. If he did this, he might find that the nation was in less despair about his administration than it is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Staffing Issues in No 10

A number of the problems in Downing Street are about personnel. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are difficult to discern well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make sound staffing decisions, or stick with them. Perhaps he is too busy. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to up his game, not do things slowly or by halves.

• He hesitated about giving the crucial role of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He appointed a former official his top aide, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Core of the Administration

All premiers spend too much time abroad and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little conversing with MPs and listening to the citizens. Prime ministers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who are often party loyalists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the story, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The biggest issues, however, are systemic. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 study on overhauling the government's central operations. His failure to address these matters last July or afterward suggests he did not. The often abject performance of the Labour administration suggests recommendations like restructuring the functions of the central government office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are currently critical.

The dominant political role of prime ministers greatly exceeds the support available to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and much is done badly or ignored.

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the casualty of previous shortcomings along with the author of present ones. But those who hoped 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 shortcoming is Sir Keir personally.