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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to north Wales on Thursday to declare the construction of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a significant policy event with both local and national implications. However, the prime minister did not devote extensive time in Wales to advocating answers for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he used the time attempting to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, informing journalists that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. Firstly, he wants his government to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. On the other hand, he is incapable to accomplish this because of the way he – and, partly, the nation as a whole – now conducts political and governmental affairs.

The Prime Minister is unable to 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 centre of government much more effectively than he does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the country was in less dismay about his government than it is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Staffing Issues in Downing Street

A number of the issues in Number 10 are about personnel. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are hard to know accurately from the exterior. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make sound staffing decisions, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to improve his performance, not do things slowly or incompletely.

• He hesitated about assigning the key job of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed Sue Gray his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• His media advisors have chopped and changed.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• The situation is chaotic.

Systemic Issues at the Heart of the Administration

Every prime minister devote excessive time overseas and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little conversing with parliamentarians and listening to the public. Prime ministers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. Yet leaders cannot claim to be surprised when their political appointees, who tend to be party loyalists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as the chief of staff has recently.

The most significant problems, however, are systemic. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s March 2024 study on reforming the government's central operations. His inability to address these matters in the summer or since implies he did not. The often abject performance of Labour’s time in office indicates recommendations like restructuring the functions of the central government office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, are currently critical.

The political pre-eminence of PMs greatly exceeds the support available to them. As a result, all aspects suffer, and much is done badly or neglected.

This isn't Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the victim of previous shortcomings as well as the author of present ones. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the core and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Unfortunately, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir personally.