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Prime Minister Starmer visited Wales' northern region on Thursday to announce the development of a new nuclear power station. This represents a significant policy event with both local and national implications. Yet, the prime minister did not devote much time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he used the time trying to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, informing reporters that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary's goals in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has evolved into more generally. On the one hand, he wants his administration to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. On the other hand, he is incapable to achieve this due to the way he – and, partly, the nation more generally – now practices politics and government.

The Prime Minister is unable to transform the culture of politics single-handedly, but he can do something about his own role in it. The simple truth is that he could run the centre of government much more effectively than he currently does. If he did this, he might find that the country was in less dismay about his administration than it is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

A number of the problems in Downing Street are about individuals. The personal dynamics of any No 10 regime are difficult to discern 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 incompletely.

• He dithered about giving the key job of top civil servant to a senior official.
• He appointed a former official his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little talking to MPs and hearing the public. Prime ministers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir compounds by performing inadequately. But premiers cannot claim to be surprised when their political appointees, who are often party activists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the story, as the chief of staff now has.

The biggest issues, though, are structural. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 report on reforming the government's central operations. His failure to grip these issues in the summer or afterward suggests he did not. The often abject experience of the Labour administration indicates IfG proposals like reorganizing the functions of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are currently critical.

The dominant political role of prime ministers far outdistances the assistance provided to them. As a result, all aspects suffer, and much is done badly or ignored.

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the victim of previous shortcomings along with the architect of present ones. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the core and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Sadly, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.