A new Prime Minister can’t succeed without fixing the broken civil service

But those who only focus on who comes next are missing a large part of the picture. The hard truth, and one that Westminster refuses to confront, is that changing the occupant of Number 10 changes very little if the machine they are trying to operate remains broken.

I spent over a decade inside that Whitehall machine as a Foreign Office diplomat. I watched my fair share of prime ministers come and go, but the internal dysfunction of the machine continued unabated. It was structural, cultural, and stubbornly resistant to whoever held the prime ministerial red box. Which is why, if and when Andy Burnham becomes the next occupant of Number 10, his first task should be to fix Whitehall. From that, all else flows.

What has gone wrong with the state? Power has been outsourced to unelected and largely unknown Whitehall officials, whilst a knotty tangle of legislation and judicial review stymies new approaches and rapid delivery. This affects every department and every issue, from planning laws to immigration control.

The problem is not limited to Whitehall ministries. Our impotence on the issues that matter most - economic growth, border control, functioning public services - stems also from a state machine increasingly beholden to powerful quangos. Natural England can and does stop vital national infrastructure from being built because a few fish might be harmed or a bat habitat disturbed. This is not a one off - this is a crazy system working as intended.

This is why I co-founded the Centre for Government Reform alongside Lord Agnew and Lord Nash. Our mission is not to tinker at the edges. It is to identify, train and help place several hundred proven leaders from business, science and the wider private sector into the most senior positions across Whitehall to fix this broken system. People who have built organisations, worked to strict budgets, hired and fired staff, and delivered results under real pressure.

The British public has made clear, repeatedly and emphatically, that they want their country to come first. They want a government that prioritises Britain’s interests, that is proud of our history, confident in our future, and not shy to take the bold decisions that are evidently needed. That is entirely achievable, but it requires a state capable of executing.

The next occupant of Number 10 will face the same fundamental challenge Keir Starmer faced. The question is whether Andy Burnham, or whoever comes next, will finally have the courage to confront that challenge and build a government machine capable of delivering.

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Ameer Kotecha is CEO of the Centre for Government Reform. He was formerly a senior diplomat, serving as the head of the British consulate in Russia 2023-25.

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