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Sir Keir Starmer visited north Wales this past Thursday to reveal the development of a new nuclear power station. This is a significant policy event with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the prime minister did not devote much time in Wales to advocating answers for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he spent it attempting to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, telling journalists that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a small-scale example of what his premiership has now become more generally. Firstly, he wants his government to be performing, and to be seen to be doing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to accomplish this due to the manner he – and, partly, the country as a whole – now practices politics and government.

Sir Keir is unable to transform the political culture single-handedly, but he can do something about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could manage the government's core far better than he currently does. If he did this, he could discover that the nation was in less despair about his administration than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Staffing Issues in No 10

Some of the issues in Downing Street are about personnel. The personal dynamics of any No 10 regime are hard to know accurately from the exterior. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Perhaps he is too busy. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must to up his game, not do things slowly or by halves.

• He dithered about giving the crucial role of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed Sue Gray his top aide, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors 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 spend too much time abroad and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little conversing with parliamentarians and hearing the public. Prime ministers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot claim to be surprised when their politically appointed staff, who tend to be party activists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The most significant problems, though, are systemic. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 report on reforming the centre of government. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or afterward suggests he did not. The frequently dismal performance of the Labour administration suggests recommendations like restructuring the roles of the central government office and Downing Street, and dividing the jobs of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

The political pre-eminence of prime ministers greatly exceeds the assistance provided to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and much is done badly or ignored.

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the casualty of past failures as well as the architect of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the core and prioritize governmental structures have been disappointed. Sadly, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.