Number 10 Downing Street Is Not Capable of the Task

Prime Minister Starmer visited north Wales on Thursday to declare the development of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a significant policy event with both local and national implications. Yet, 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 briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling reporters that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary's goals in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a small-scale example of what his premiership has now become overall. Firstly, he desires his administration to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to achieve this due to the way he – and, to an extent, the country as a whole – now practices political and governmental affairs.

The Prime Minister cannot transform the culture of politics on his own, but he can do something about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could run the government's core far better than he does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the country was in less despair about his government than it is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

A number of the issues in Downing Street are about individuals. The interpersonal relations of any No 10 regime are difficult to discern accurately from the exterior. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir fails to make sound staffing decisions, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to improve his performance, not do things slowly or incompletely.

• He dithered about giving the crucial role of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He made Sue Gray his chief of staff, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• His media advisors have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• The situation is chaotic.

Systemic Issues at the Core of the Administration

All premiers spend too much time abroad and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little talking to parliamentarians and listening to the public. Prime ministers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir compounds by performing inadequately. But premiers cannot express surprise when their politically appointed staff, who are often party activists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as the chief of staff now has.

The biggest issues, though, are systemic. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 report on reforming the government's central operations. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or afterward suggests he did not. The often abject performance of Labour’s time in office suggests recommendations like reorganizing the roles of the central government office and Downing Street, and dividing the jobs of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

The dominant political role of prime ministers greatly exceeds the support available to them. As a result, all aspects suffer, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This isn't Sir Keir’s fault alone. He stands as the casualty of previous shortcomings as well as the architect 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 disappointed. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir himself.