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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to north Wales on Thursday to announce the building of a new nuclear power station. This represents a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the PM did not dedicate much time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he used the time trying to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, informing journalists that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has evolved into more generally. Firstly, he desires his administration to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is unable to achieve this because of the manner he – and, partly, the country as a whole – now practices political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir is unable to change the culture of politics on his own, but he is able to do something about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could manage the centre of government far better than he currently does. If he did this, he could discover that the nation was in less dismay about his government than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

Some of the issues in Downing Street are about personnel. The personal dynamics 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 maintain them. Perhaps he is too busy. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to up his game, not do things slowly or incompletely.

• He hesitated about giving the crucial role of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed a former official his chief of staff, then substituted her with a political strategist.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the Treasury as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Core of Government

All premiers spend too much time abroad and on international matters, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time talking to parliamentarians and hearing the citizens. Prime ministers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. But premiers cannot claim to be surprised when their political appointees, who are often party activists or ambitious in politics, cross lines or become the story, as Mr McSweeney has recently.

The biggest issues, however, are systemic. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir reviewed the Institute for Government’s March 2024 report on overhauling the centre of government. His failure to grip these issues last July or afterward suggests he did not. The frequently dismal experience of the Labour administration indicates IfG proposals like reorganizing the roles of the central government office and Downing Street, and dividing the positions of top official and head of the civil service, are currently critical.

The dominant political role of prime ministers greatly exceeds the assistance provided to them. As a result, everything currently suffers, and much is done badly or neglected.

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the victim of past failures along with 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.