The news that Sir Keir Starmer has asked his chief of staff, Sue Gray, to plan for an overhaul of Whitehall is a sign that he is thinking hard about governing well. But real change will require pragmatism and focus.
The temptation for prime ministers faced with the Whitehall machine is to restructure ministerial departments. There is always someone who will tell you that a new Department of Stationery, complete with a Minister for Paperclips, is the key to tricky policy problems. It’s not. It just ensures that nothing is done for months or years as the new ministry is set up and populated with officials who are often new to the field.
In an ideal world Whitehall’s departments would be structured differently, but trying
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