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Sir Keir Starmer visited north Wales this past Thursday to announce the building of a new nuclear power station. This is a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the PM did not devote extensive time in Wales to advocating answers for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he used the time trying to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, informing reporters that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a small-scale example of what his premiership has evolved into more generally. Firstly, he desires his government to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. On the other hand, he is incapable to achieve this due to the way he – and, to an extent, the nation as a whole – now conducts politics and government.

The Prime Minister cannot transform the political culture on his own, but he can take action about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could run the government's core much more effectively than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the nation was in less dismay about his administration than it is, and that he was getting his messages across more effectively.

Staffing Issues in No 10

A number of the problems in Downing Street are about individuals. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are difficult to discern well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. But he needs to improve his performance, not do things slowly or by halves.

• He dithered about assigning the crucial role of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He made Sue Gray his chief of staff, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Core of the Administration

Every prime minister spend too much time abroad and on international matters, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little conversing with MPs and listening to the citizens. Premiers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their political appointees, 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 structural. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s March 2024 study on reforming the centre of government. His inability to address these matters in the summer or afterward suggests he did not. The often abject performance of the Labour administration suggests IfG proposals like restructuring the roles of the central government office and No 10, and separating the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

The dominant political role of prime ministers greatly exceeds the support available to them. As a result, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or ignored.

This isn't Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the victim of previous shortcomings along with the author of present ones. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the centre and prioritize governmental structures have been disappointed. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir personally.