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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region this past Thursday to declare the construction of a new nuclear power station. This represents a significant policy event with both local and national implications. Yet, the prime minister did not devote much time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's power requirements. Instead, he spent it attempting to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, telling journalists that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his premiership has evolved into more generally. Firstly, he wants his government to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. On the other hand, he is incapable to achieve this due to the way he – and, partly, the country as a whole – now practices politics and government.

The Prime Minister is unable to change the political culture single-handedly, but he is able to take action about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could manage the government's core much more effectively 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 successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

A number of the issues in Downing Street are about personnel. The interpersonal relations of any No 10 regime are hard to know accurately from the exterior. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not 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, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He hesitated about assigning the key job of top civil servant to a senior official.
• He appointed a former official his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have been frequently replaced.
• Advisors on politics and policy have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Heart 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 conversing with MPs and listening to the public. Premiers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot claim to be surprised when their political appointees, who tend to be party loyalists or ambitious in politics, cross lines or become the story, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The most significant problems, though, are systemic. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir read the a think tank's spring 2024 report on overhauling the centre of government. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or afterward suggests he did not. The often abject performance of the Labour administration indicates recommendations like restructuring the roles of the Cabinet Office and Downing Street, and separating the jobs 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. As a result, everything currently suffers, and much is done badly or neglected.

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He is the victim of past failures along with the architect of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the core and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Sadly, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir himself.