WHAT KEIR STARMER CAN EXPECT FROM HIS FIRST 72 HOURS IN OFFICE

Starting a new job can be daunting. You have to make a good impression, remember everyone’s names and get the wording right in your letters to the commanding officers of the four British ballistic missile submarines.

That is, if your new job is Prime Minister.

The Right Honourable recruit is likely to get to work after lunch today. As soon as he’s been officially asked by the king to form a Government, Sir Kir Starmer will head to 10 Downing Street and get cracking with a speech to the public via the media.

Luckily the first three days in the role will be WFH – although probably won’t be able to commit to his Friday 6pn switch off today – and as a new starter, he will certainly have to do the weekend shift in his first few days.

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DAY 1 – Work, work, work, work, work, work

As soon as the polls are in and we officially have a new PM, they are whisked to Buckingham Palace to be formally appointed by the monarch. It was something the Queen had to do 15 times in her 70 year reign and already the third time for King Charles since taking up the throne in September 2022.

Following his meeting with the monarch, the Prime Minister will return to his Whitehall cul-de-sac to make a speech outside his new home/office, No.10 Downing Street.

After, the PM will pass through that famous black door to be greeted by applauding staff, officials and advisors before making his way straight down the central corridor to the Cabinet Room at the back of the house.

Then things get heavy.

Here the Cabinet Secretary will sit the PM down to the first of many meetings. They will discuss everything from thinking through the secretive letters of last resort to talking about how they want their government to run.

‘It is a very sobering time because yes, it may seem like something that is incredibly remote, but it really brings home the weight of the responsibility that the Prime Minister has taken on,’ explains Catherine Haddon, Programme Director at think tank Institute for Government.

It’s just the first of a series of important decisions the PM will have to make in the early days.

The next job for Starmer will be to officially form a Government appointing key cabinet ministers – likely to be the same as the existing shadow cabinet Angela Rayner, Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper David Lammy and others – and meeting them one by one, a process that will take time as every ministerial appointment has to be formally approved by HM King Charles.

In between security briefings on the latest intelligence and key threats, the PM will spend time on the phone with world leaders Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many others. In fact, the early days of the new role will be dominated by foreign policy as he prepares for the NATO summit in New York next week and the Fourth European Political Community Summit later in the month.

He will have to be trained up in using ‘Switch’, the phone system that allows him to talk across the international corridors of power.

Next, the Prime Minister will make media announcements on plans for his first days in office and any major announcements of policy.

When Rishi Sunak took on the role in October 2022, he put out a statement immediately after being greeted by the king, addressing Covid, Ukraine and promising economic stability.

Day one will end with decisions about how the PM wants to work in Number 10 and the family’s living arrangements.

‘It will be pretty much nonstop all of that first day as there’s so much business to get through. Because until the Prime Minister has authorised various decisions, other people can’t go and get on with them,’ Catherine explains.

A new home – does the Prime Minister always live at 10 Downing Street?

That said, off the back of some very long days on a gruelling election campaign, the new PM will need a rest and hopefully before bedtime, the decisions will have been made about who sleeps where.

There are two flats about the building; number 10 and the larger number 11. When Tony Blair moved in in 1997, he took the bigger flat because he had a larger family than then Chancellor Gordon Brown. While the PM gets to choose, it may be weeks before the previous occupant’s stuff has gone and he is properly settled in with his family.

And while Margaret Thatcher famously claimed to get by on just four hour’s sleep a night, the new PM is coming off the back of weeks of long days and will need some rest.

‘Officials will be mindful, as well as Starmer’s advisers, that he’s just been through an exhausting election campaign and it is good for everyone that he’s also given some opportunity to have a break and to get some sleep. So I think they will be trying to avoid long hours into the evening every evening,’ Catherine says.

DAY 2 – The Saturday job

There will be no lie-in today. If the new PM isn’t woken by the mind-boggling realisation that he is in charge of a whole nation, his alarm will go off early to another busy day. Our Prime Minister will need a hearty breakfast first – Keir Starmer was once papped with plates of fish, fruit and cheese at a Labour Party conference – as he embarks on putting the fat on the bones of the previous day’s work.

Remaining cabinet appointments will be made, alongside the selection of junior ministers. There will be more calls with world leaders, nuclear deputies will be appointed, further briefings from advisers in the Cabinet Office on national security, economic and domestic and foreign policy and discussions about key policies and legislative priorities. Time is of the essence as there is less than two weeks to agree plans before the first parliamentary session ahead of the King’s Speech and State Opening of Parliament on 17 July.

So it is unlikely that he will have cleared his to-do list in time to watch the Euros on Saturday night, though he may watch the highlights before bed.

DAY 3 – Sunday funday

During his third day in charge, the new PM will continue to make appointments and post special advisors. The Policy Unit and other key units may need to be set up – some of these might begin to be delegated in detail but will need the PM’s approval and there will be yet more meetings, briefings and phone calls with international leaders.

In between all this, the PM may find some time to get to know Larry the cat, the resident moggy who has lived at Number 10 ever since David Cameron was at the helm. Larry, who was adopted by Downing Street staff from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, has official duties, including ‘meeting and greeting guests and inspecting security defences’ and as a civil servant, he remains at the address as prime ministers come and go.

However, he will have to be introduced to the Starmer’s much loved rescue cat Jojo, who he told a BBC interview two months ago ‘is given far more respect than I am’ at home.

FAMILY LIFE IN DOWNING STREET

By Monday morning, the PM will have hopefully found his feet and be settling in at number 10.

Despite the hectic start, Sir Keir has said once he’s ready he wants to commit to his family’s tradition of not working after 6pm on a Friday. He sees it as protected time with his teenage children and wife, Victoria.

The warren of offices, meeting rooms and flats that make up Number 10 Downing Street can lend itself well to family time, says Catherine.

‘It’s quite good because it allows them to pop upstairs and have time with their family a lot more easily than if you were commuting to and from work,’ she explains. ‘Starmer has said he wants to protect some family time and that’s really important, because otherwise there is a risk that the proximity of your home and your work life are such that that work often impinges.’

And as well as personal time, the new PM will want to find time to exercise if he is to keep up with the demands of the job.

Nick Clegg, who was told it was a security risk for him to cycle to work, had exercise machinery put near his office when he was deputy PM, while Boris Johnson hired a personal trainer after he was hospitalised with Covid and Rishi Sunak loved his exercise bike.

But how will the new PM keep fit? With Number 10 just a stone’s throw from St James Park, if Sir Keir needs a breather, he can’t simply step outside.

Catherine explains: ‘A wellbeing walk around the park is very pleasant, but if you’re Prime Minister, it’s not so easy to do that. Everything you do has a security team attached to it. So it can be quite difficult to create space to make sure that you’re keeping healthy.’

It will be a busy and challenging three days, says Catherine, adding, ‘and a stark lesson in how huge the job is and how extensive the demands on the PM’s time will be.’

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