🔗 Share this article

Sir Keir Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region on Thursday to announce the building of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. However, the PM did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he spent it trying to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling journalists that No 10 had not briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a small-scale example of what his prime ministership has evolved into more generally. On the one hand, he wants his administration to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, important things. On the other hand, he is incapable to achieve this due to the way he – and, to an extent, the nation more generally – now conducts political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir cannot change the culture of politics single-handedly, but he can take action about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could manage the centre of government much more effectively than he currently does. If he did this, he could discover that the nation was in less dismay about his administration than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Personnel Problems in No 10

A number of the problems in Number 10 relate to personnel. The interpersonal relations of any No 10 regime are difficult to discern well from outside. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not make sound staffing decisions, or maintain 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 dithered about giving the key job of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed a former official his top aide, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• 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 entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of Government

Every prime minister devote excessive time abroad and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and insufficient time conversing with MPs and hearing the citizens. Prime ministers also allocate 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 are often party loyalists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The most significant problems, however, are systemic. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir read the a think tank's March 2024 study on overhauling the centre of government. His inability to grip these issues last July or afterward suggests he did not. The frequently dismal performance of the Labour administration suggests IfG proposals like restructuring the roles of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and dividing the positions of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are currently critical.

The dominant political role of PMs far outdistances the support available to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or ignored.

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the victim of past failures as well as the architect of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Unfortunately, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir personally.