10 Downing Street Is Not Up to the Job

Sir Keir Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region this past Thursday to declare the construction of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a significant policy event with implications at local and countrywide levels. Yet, the PM did not devote extensive time in Wales to advocating answers for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he used the time trying to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, telling journalists that No 10 had not undermined the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a small-scale example of what his prime ministership has evolved into overall. On the one hand, he wants his administration to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to achieve this because of the way he – and, to an extent, the country as a whole – now conducts politics and government.

The Prime Minister is unable to change the culture of politics single-handedly, but he is able to take action about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could run the centre of government much more effectively than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the nation was in less despair about his government than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Staffing Issues in Downing Street

A number of the issues in Number 10 relate to individuals. The interpersonal relations of any No 10 regime are hard to know accurately from the exterior. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. But he needs to up his game, not do things slowly or incompletely.

• He hesitated about giving the crucial role of top civil servant to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed Sue Gray his chief of staff, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have been frequently replaced.
• Advisors on politics and policy have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time overseas and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time talking to parliamentarians and listening to the citizens. 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 politically appointed staff, who tend to be party loyalists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the story, as the chief of staff has recently.

The most significant problems, however, are structural. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s March 2024 study on reforming the centre of government. His inability to address these matters in the summer or since suggests he did not. The often abject performance of the Labour administration suggests IfG proposals like reorganizing the functions of the Cabinet Office and Downing Street, and separating the jobs of top official and civil service head, are currently critical.

The political pre-eminence of PMs greatly exceeds the support available to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or ignored.

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He stands as the casualty of previous shortcomings as well as the author of current mistakes. 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 biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.