10 Downing Street Fails to Be Fit for Purpose

Prime Minister Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region on Thursday to announce the construction of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. Yet, the PM did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he spent it trying to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, informing journalists that No 10 had not undermined the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his premiership has now become more generally. On the one hand, he desires his administration to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. Conversely, he is unable to achieve this because of the way he – and, to an extent, the country more generally – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir is unable to change the political culture single-handedly, but he is able to take action about his own role 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 might find that the country was in less despair about his government than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more effectively.

Personnel Problems in No 10

A number of the issues in Number 10 relate to individuals. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are hard to know well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make sound staffing decisions, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to up his game, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He dithered about assigning the key job of top civil servant to a senior official.
• He appointed a former official his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• 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 come and gone.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Core of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time overseas and on international matters, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time talking to MPs and listening to the public. 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 political appointees, who tend to be party loyalists or ambitious in politics, cross lines or become the focus, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The most significant problems, however, are structural. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's March 2024 report on reforming the government's central operations. His inability to address these matters in the summer or since suggests he did not. The often abject performance of Labour’s time in office indicates IfG proposals like restructuring the functions of the central government office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are currently critical.

The political pre-eminence of PMs far outdistances the support available to them. Consequently, all aspects suffer, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This isn't Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He is the casualty of previous shortcomings as well as the author of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Unfortunately, the primary casualty from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.