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Prime Minister Starmer traveled to north Wales this past Thursday to declare the development of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. However, the prime minister did not devote much time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he used the time trying to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling journalists that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary's goals in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his premiership has now become overall. On the one hand, he wants his administration to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. Conversely, he is incapable to achieve this because of the manner he – and, partly, the nation more generally – now practices politics and government.

Sir Keir cannot transform the political culture on his own, but he can take action about his personal involvement in it. The simple truth is that he could run the centre of government much more effectively than he does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the country was in less dismay about his government than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

A number of the issues in Number 10 are about personnel. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are difficult to discern accurately from the exterior. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir fails to make sound staffing decisions, or maintain them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. But he needs to up his game, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He dithered about giving the key job of top civil servant to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed Sue Gray his top aide, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He brought a Treasury figure in from the Treasury as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of the Administration

All premiers spend too much time overseas and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little talking to parliamentarians and listening to the public. Premiers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot express surprise when their politically appointed staff, who are often party loyalists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as the chief of staff has recently.

The biggest issues, however, are structural. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir read the a think tank's March 2024 study on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to address these matters last July or since implies he did not. The often abject performance of the Labour administration indicates recommendations like restructuring the roles of the Cabinet Office and Downing Street, and dividing the positions of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, are currently critical.

The political pre-eminence of PMs greatly exceeds the support available to them. As a result, all aspects suffer, and much is done badly 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. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir personally.