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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to north Wales on Thursday to announce the development of a new nuclear power station. This is a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. However, the PM did not dedicate much time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he spent it trying to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, telling journalists that No 10 had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his premiership has evolved into more generally. Firstly, he desires his government to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is unable to accomplish this due to the way he – and, to an extent, the country as a whole – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir cannot 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 run the government's core much more effectively than he does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the nation was in less despair about his government than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Staffing Issues in No 10

Some of the problems in Number 10 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 fails to make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Perhaps he is too busy. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. But he needs to up his game, avoid slow progress or by halves.

• He hesitated about assigning the crucial role of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He made a former official his top aide, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Core of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time overseas and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and insufficient time conversing with parliamentarians and hearing the public. Prime ministers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot claim to be surprised when their political appointees, who tend to be party loyalists or ambitious in politics, cross lines or become the focus, as the chief of staff now has.

The most significant problems, however, are systemic. It would be good to think that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 study on overhauling the government's central operations. His failure to grip these issues last July or since implies he did not. The often abject performance of Labour’s time in office suggests recommendations like restructuring the roles of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and separating the jobs of top official and civil service head, are now urgent.

The political pre-eminence of prime ministers far outdistances the assistance provided to them. As a result, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the casualty of previous shortcomings 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 disappointed. Sadly, the primary casualty from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.