🔗 Share this article

Prime Minister Starmer traveled to north Wales this past Thursday to declare the building of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the PM did not devote much time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he used the time attempting to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling reporters that No 10 had not undermined the health secretary's goals in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has evolved into more generally. On the one hand, he desires his administration to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. On the other hand, he is incapable to accomplish this because of the way he – and, to an extent, the country more generally – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir cannot transform the political culture on his own, but he is able to take action about his personal involvement in it. The simple truth is that he could manage the government's core far better than he currently does. If he did this, he could discover that the country was in less despair about his administration than it is, and that he was getting his messages across more effectively.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

A number of the problems in Number 10 are about individuals. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are hard to know well from outside. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. But he needs to improve his performance, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He hesitated about giving the crucial role of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He made Sue Gray his top aide, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Heart of Government

All premiers spend too much time overseas and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little talking to MPs and hearing the public. Premiers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir compounds by performing inadequately. But premiers 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 the chief of staff has recently.

The most significant problems, though, are structural. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir read the a think tank's spring 2024 report on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or afterward implies he did not. The often abject experience of Labour’s time in office indicates recommendations like reorganizing the roles of the central government office and No 10, and separating the jobs of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are currently critical.

The political pre-eminence of prime ministers far outdistances the assistance provided 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 victim of previous shortcomings along with the architect of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir personally.