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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region on Thursday to declare the building of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This is a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. Yet, the prime minister did not dedicate much time in Wales to advocating answers for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he spent it trying to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, informing reporters that No 10 had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a small-scale example of what his prime ministership has evolved into overall. Firstly, he desires his government to be performing, and to be seen to be doing, important things. Conversely, he is unable to achieve this because of the way he – and, partly, the nation more generally – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir cannot change the political culture 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 does. If he did this, he might find that the country was in less dismay about his administration than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

A number of the problems in Number 10 relate to individuals. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are hard to know well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. But he needs to improve his performance, not do things slowly or incompletely.

• He dithered about giving the key job of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He made a former official his top aide, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the finance ministry 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 Core of the Administration

All premiers spend too much time overseas and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little talking to parliamentarians and listening to the public. Premiers 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 loyalists or ambitious in politics, cross lines or become the story, as the chief of staff now has.

The biggest issues, however, are systemic. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 report on reforming the government's central operations. His inability to address these matters in the summer or afterward implies he did not. The frequently dismal experience of the Labour administration indicates IfG proposals like restructuring the functions of the central government office and Downing Street, and separating the positions of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

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

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the casualty of previous shortcomings along with the author of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Sadly, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.