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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to 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. Yet, the PM did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he used the time trying to put an end to the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling reporters that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary's goals in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his premiership has now become more generally. On the one hand, he wants his government to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to accomplish this due to the way he – and, partly, the nation more generally – now practices political and governmental affairs.

The Prime Minister cannot change the political culture on his own, but he can do something about his personal involvement in it. The simple truth is that he could run the government's core much more effectively than he does. If he did this, he might find that the nation was in less despair about his government than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Staffing Issues in Downing Street

A number of the problems in Downing Street are about personnel. The personal dynamics of any No 10 regime are difficult to discern well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make sound staffing decisions, or maintain them. Perhaps he is too busy. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must to improve his performance, not do things slowly or incompletely.

• He hesitated about assigning the key job of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He made Sue Gray his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of the Administration

Every prime minister spend too much time abroad and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time conversing with parliamentarians and listening to the citizens. Premiers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. But premiers cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who are often party activists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the story, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The biggest issues, though, are systemic. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 study on reforming the government's central operations. His inability to grip these issues last July or afterward implies he did not. The frequently dismal performance of the Labour administration suggests recommendations like restructuring the functions of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and separating the positions of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are currently critical.

The political pre-eminence of prime ministers far outdistances the support available to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and much is done badly or neglected.

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 might get a grip on the centre and prioritize governmental structures have been disappointed. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir himself.