President Starmer? PM to beef up Downing Street to get a grip on chaos

Telegraph

18-07-2025

Sir Keir Starmer is looking at creating a new 'Department for Downing Street' in an attempt to stop dysfunction at the centre of government.
The shake-up would see a senior civil servant appointed to a lead role and scores of other officials drafted in, strengthening the Prime Minister's ability to drive through change in Whitehall.
Interest in the idea reflects both disillusionment in Number 10 about the existing government machine and recent high-profile setbacks such as the welfare cuts U-turn.
The idea opens up Sir Keir – who has nothing like the staff support enjoyed by the US president – to the charge of a 'presidential' land grab.
Boris Johnson launched a similar move with his own attempted ' reset ' as Tory MPs tried to oust him in 2022, but the changes were killed off when he was forced from office.
A Whitehall organisational shake-up forms part of a wider 'reset' being mulled over in Downing Street after a year in office and a bruising welfare cuts rebellion.
When and how to reshuffle ministers in an attempt to better deliver on Sir Keir's priorities, and potential personnel changes in Number 10 are also believed to be under consideration.
Work being done by a think tank closely aligned with Downing Street has become a point of interest among Sir Keir's allies as they consider how to improve things before the autumn.
The Future Governance Forum was founded by Nathan Yeowell, a friend of Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir's chief of staff who will play a key role in deciding any overhaul.
The think tank, while non-partisan, has done work which informed Labour on the transition into power and how to deliver 'mission-driven government' – the approach Sir Keir has vowed to adopt in office.
In recent weeks there is understood to have been particular interest from Downing Street insiders in a months-long series of work being run by the foundation called 'in power'.
It is being headed up by Helen MacNamara, a former civil servant who rose to deputy cabinet secretary before leaving government in 2021 after tensions on how to tackle Covid in Mr Johnson's team.
Hundreds of former government figures of all political stripes and none have been interviewed for the project, the outcomes of which will be published later in the summer.
Its core recommendation is expected to be that a Department for Downing Street is established, a proposal that sources say is being actively considered inside Sir Keir's close team.
'There is a deafening consensus that the PM will be better served with a department,' said one source familiar with the foundation's work. 'It is quite hard to find someone who has worked in No10 who thinks it is set up brilliantly.'
Complaints that Downing Street is ill-equipped to support the demands of a 21st century prime minister have been voiced for many years from Tories and Labour figures alike.
The White House brings together hundreds of officials, including two standalone bodies advising on economic policy and national security, to help the US president make decisions.
By comparison, Number 10 brings together a collection of a few dozen political advisers and a civil service team that is less senior than is found in other great offices of state.
Much of the influence of the prime minister is wielded through the Cabinet Office, a department whose exact role is reshaped by every incumbent and can often be left ill-defined.
Creating a 'Department of Downing Street' would likely see the appointment, as with other departments, of a senior civil servant to the role of permanent secretary.
How Sir Chris Wormald, the recently appointed Cabinet Secretary – the country's most senior civil servant – would fit in this new system would be closely watched.
He has been the source of some critical anonymous briefings from inside Number 10 that have made the newspapers – mutterings waved away by many in Downing Street.
Mr Johnson announced a new 'Office of the Prime Minister' in January 2022 as he was attempting to stabilise his premiership after revelations of Covid lockdown breaches dubbed 'partygate'.
Samantha Jones, a health official who had helped counter the Covid pandemic from inside the government, was announced the following month as the unit's new permanent secretary.
But five months later Mr Johnson was forced from office by his own MPs and the restructuring of Downing Street was quietly dropped.
If the Prime Minister does end up adopting and announcing a Downing Street Department, the idea could well be panned as window-dressing by his political opponents.
A Reform source said: 'This sounds like an attempt by Starmer to become more presidential, but he has no real power left after multiple U-turns. Beefing up Downing Street won't solve his problems.'