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Prime Minister Starmer visited north Wales this past Thursday to reveal the building of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the PM did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he spent it trying to put an end to the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, informing journalists that No 10 had not briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a small-scale example of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. Firstly, he desires his government to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. Conversely, he is incapable to achieve this due to the manner he – and, to an extent, the nation as a whole – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir is unable to change the political culture single-handedly, but he is able to take action about his personal involvement in it. The simple truth is that he could manage the centre of government much more effectively than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the nation was in less dismay about his administration than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Staffing Issues in Downing Street

A number of the issues in Downing Street are about individuals. The personal dynamics of any No 10 regime are hard to know well from outside. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must to up his game, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He dithered about giving the key job of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He made a former official his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have chopped and changed.
• Advisors on politics and policy have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time overseas and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time conversing with MPs and hearing the citizens. Prime ministers also allocate too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot express surprise when their politically appointed staff, who are often party loyalists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the story, as the chief of staff has recently.

The most significant problems, though, are structural. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's March 2024 study on reforming the government's central operations. His failure to grip these issues in the summer or afterward suggests he did not. The frequently dismal performance of Labour’s time in office suggests recommendations like reorganizing the functions of the central government office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

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

This isn't Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the casualty of previous shortcomings along with the author of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the centre and prioritize governmental structures have been disappointed. Sadly, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.