10 Downing St Fails to Be Up to the Job

Sir Keir Starmer visited north Wales on Thursday to announce the development of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a significant policy event with implications at local and countrywide levels. Yet, the prime minister did not devote extensive time in Wales to advocating answers for the UK's power requirements. Instead, he used the time trying to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, informing journalists that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his premiership has evolved into overall. Firstly, he desires his administration to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, important things. Conversely, he is incapable to accomplish this due to the way he – and, partly, the nation as a whole – now practices politics and government.

Sir Keir cannot transform the political culture on his own, but he can do something about his own role in it. The simple truth is that he could run the government's core far better than he does. If he did this, he might find that the country was in less dismay about his government than it is, and that he was getting his messages across more effectively.

Personnel Problems in No 10

Some of the issues in Downing Street relate to individuals. The personal dynamics of any No 10 regime are difficult to discern well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to up his game, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He hesitated about assigning the key job of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed a former official his chief of staff, then substituted her with a political strategist.
• He brought a Treasury figure in from the Treasury as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Heart of Government

All premiers spend too much time abroad and on international matters, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little conversing with parliamentarians and hearing the public. Prime ministers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot claim to be surprised when their politically appointed staff, who tend to be party activists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The biggest issues, however, are systemic. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir reviewed the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 report on overhauling the centre of government. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or since suggests he did not. The often abject performance of the Labour administration indicates recommendations like reorganizing the functions of the central government office and Downing Street, and separating the positions of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are now urgent.

The political pre-eminence of prime ministers far outdistances the assistance provided to them. As a result, all aspects suffer, and much is done badly or neglected.

This isn't Sir Keir’s fault alone. He stands as the victim of previous shortcomings as well as the author of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the centre and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Sadly, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.