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Prime Minister Starmer visited Wales' northern region on Thursday to declare the building of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This is a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. Yet, the prime minister did not dedicate much time in Wales to advocating answers for the UK's power requirements. Instead, he spent it trying to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, informing reporters that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. On the one hand, he desires his government to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to achieve this due to the manner he – and, to an extent, the nation more generally – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir is unable to change the political culture single-handedly, but he can do something about his own role in it. The simple truth is that he could run the centre of government far better than he does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the nation was in less despair about his administration than it is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

A number of the issues in Downing Street relate to individuals. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are hard to know accurately from the exterior. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make sound staffing decisions, or maintain them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to improve his performance, not do things slowly or incompletely.

• He dithered about assigning the key job of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He appointed a former official his chief of staff, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He brought a Treasury figure in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Core of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little talking to parliamentarians and listening to the citizens. Premiers also spend too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir worsens by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who tend to be party loyalists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The biggest issues, however, are structural. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir reviewed the Institute for Government’s March 2024 report on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or afterward implies he did not. The frequently dismal experience of the Labour administration indicates IfG proposals like reorganizing the functions of the central government office and Downing Street, and dividing the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

The dominant political role of PMs far outdistances the support available to them. As a result, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or ignored.

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the victim of past failures as well as the architect of present ones. But those who hoped Sir Keir might get a grip on the centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir personally.