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Sir Keir Starmer visited Wales' northern region on Thursday to declare the building 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 much time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he used the time attempting to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, informing journalists that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has evolved into overall. Firstly, he desires his government to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to accomplish this due to the way he – and, partly, the nation more generally – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir is unable to change the political culture single-handedly, but he is able to do something about his personal involvement in it. The simple truth is that he could manage the government's core far better than he does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the country was in less despair about his government than it is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Staffing Issues 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 accurately from the exterior. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not make sound staffing decisions, or stick with them. Perhaps he is too busy. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. But he needs to up his game, not do things slowly or by halves.

• He hesitated about giving the crucial role of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He made a former official his top aide, then substituted her with a political strategist.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Core of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time overseas and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and insufficient time talking to parliamentarians and listening to the public. 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 tend to be party activists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the story, as Mr McSweeney has recently.

The biggest issues, however, are structural. It would be good to think that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's March 2024 study on reforming the government's central operations. His failure to address these matters in the summer or since implies he did not. The often abject experience of the Labour administration indicates IfG proposals like reorganizing the roles of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and dividing the positions of top official and civil service head, are now urgent.

The dominant political role of prime ministers far outdistances the assistance provided to them. As a result, all aspects suffer, and much is done badly or ignored.

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the casualty of past failures as well as the author of present ones. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir might get a grip on the centre and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Unfortunately, the primary casualty from this shortcoming is Sir Keir personally.