Number 10 Downing Street Is Not Capable of the Task

Prime Minister Starmer visited Wales' northern region on Thursday to reveal the development of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This is a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. Yet, the prime minister did not dedicate much time in Wales to advocating solutions for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he used the time attempting to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, informing reporters that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a small-scale example of what his prime ministership has evolved into overall. Firstly, he desires his administration to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to accomplish this because of the way he – and, partly, the nation more generally – now practices politics and government.

Sir Keir cannot change the culture of politics on his own, but he is able to do something about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could run the government's core much more effectively than he does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the country was in less despair about his administration than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Staffing Issues in Downing Street

A number of the problems in Downing Street are about personnel. The personal dynamics of any No 10 regime are difficult to discern accurately from the exterior. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Perhaps he is too busy. 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 a senior official.
• He made a former official his top aide, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of the Administration

All premiers spend too much time overseas and on international matters, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little conversing with MPs and listening to the citizens. Prime ministers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir compounds by performing inadequately. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who are often party loyalists or ambitious in politics, cross lines or become the story, as the chief of staff now has.

The most significant problems, however, are structural. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 report on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or since implies he did not. The often abject experience of Labour’s time in office suggests IfG proposals like reorganizing the functions of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and separating the positions of top official and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

The political pre-eminence of prime ministers greatly exceeds the support available to them. As a result, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He is the victim of past failures along with the author of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Sadly, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.