🔗 Share this article

Prime Minister Starmer visited Wales' northern region on Thursday to announce 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. Instead, he spent it 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 ambitions earlier this week.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. Firstly, he wants his administration to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, important things. Conversely, he is unable to achieve this because of the way he – and, partly, the nation more generally – now practices political and governmental affairs.

The Prime Minister cannot transform the political culture on his own, but he is able to do something about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could manage the government's core much more effectively than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the country was in less despair about his administration than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

Some of the issues in Downing Street are about personnel. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are difficult to discern accurately from the exterior. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Perhaps he is too busy. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must to improve his performance, not do things slowly or by halves.

• He dithered about giving the crucial role of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed a former official his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of the Administration

Every prime minister devote excessive time abroad and on international matters, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little conversing with MPs and hearing the citizens. Premiers also spend too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot claim to be surprised when their politically appointed staff, who tend to be party loyalists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the story, as the chief of staff has recently.

The most significant problems, however, are systemic. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 report on overhauling the centre of government. His failure to grip these issues in the summer or since implies he did not. The frequently dismal performance of Labour’s time in office indicates IfG proposals like reorganizing the roles of the Cabinet 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 support available to them. As a result, all aspects suffer, and many tasks are poorly executed or ignored.

This isn't Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He is the victim of previous shortcomings along with 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 shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.