🔗 Share this article Number 10 Downing St Is Not Up to the Job Prime Minister Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region on Thursday to announce the building of a new nuclear power station. This represents a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. Yet, the PM did not dedicate much time in Wales to advocating solutions for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he spent it trying to put an end to the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, informing journalists that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary's goals earlier this week. Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has evolved into more generally. Firstly, he wants his government to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. Conversely, he is incapable to accomplish this due to the manner he – and, partly, the country as a whole – now practices political and governmental affairs. The Prime Minister cannot change the political culture single-handedly, but he can take action about his personal involvement in it. The simple truth is that he could manage the centre of government much more effectively than he does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the country was in less dismay about his government than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully. Personnel Problems in Downing Street Some of the problems in Number 10 relate to personnel. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are hard to know well from outside. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not make sound staffing decisions, or maintain them. Perhaps he is too busy. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to up his game, avoid slow progress or by halves. He hesitated about assigning the key job of top civil servant to a senior official. He made a former official his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney. He brought a Treasury figure in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary. His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced. Advisors on politics and policy have entered and exited. The situation is chaotic. Structural Challenges at the Core of the Administration Every prime minister devote excessive time abroad and on international matters, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time talking to parliamentarians and hearing the citizens. Prime ministers also allocate too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their politically appointed staff, who tend to be party loyalists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as Mr McSweeney has recently. The biggest issues, though, are systemic. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's March 2024 study on reforming the centre of government. His inability to grip these issues last July or afterward suggests he did not. The often abject performance of the Labour administration indicates recommendations like restructuring the functions of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and separating the positions of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are now urgent. The political pre-eminence of prime ministers greatly exceeds the support available to them. As a result, everything currently suffers, and much is done badly or ignored. This isn't Sir Keir’s fault alone. He stands as the casualty of past failures along with the architect of present ones. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Sadly, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.