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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region on Thursday to declare the development of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a significant policy event with implications at local and countrywide levels. Yet, the prime minister did not devote extensive time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he spent it trying to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, informing journalists that No 10 had not briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a small-scale example of what his premiership has now become overall. On the one hand, he wants his government to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is unable to achieve this due to the way he – and, to an extent, the nation as a whole – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir cannot change the culture of politics single-handedly, but he is able to take action about his personal involvement in it. The simple truth is that he could manage the government's core far better than he does. If he did this, he could discover that the country was in less despair about his administration than it is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Personnel Problems in No 10

Some of the issues in Downing Street relate to individuals. The personal dynamics of any No 10 regime are hard to know well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make sound staffing decisions, or maintain them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to up his game, avoid slow progress or by halves.

• He hesitated about assigning the crucial role of top civil servant to Chris Wormald.
• He made Sue Gray his chief of staff, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He brought a Treasury figure in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have chopped and changed.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Core of Government

Every prime minister devote excessive time abroad and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little talking to MPs and listening to the public. Premiers also allocate too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who are often party activists or ambitious in politics, cross lines or become the story, as the chief of staff has recently.

The biggest issues, though, are structural. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the Institute for Government’s March 2024 study on reforming the centre of government. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or afterward suggests he did not. The often abject performance of Labour’s time in office suggests IfG proposals like reorganizing the roles of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are currently critical.

The political pre-eminence of PMs greatly exceeds the support available to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and much is done badly or ignored.

This isn't Sir Keir’s fault alone. He stands as 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. Sadly, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.