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Prime Minister Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region this past Thursday to announce the construction 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 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 Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a small-scale example of what his premiership has evolved into more generally. Firstly, he desires his government to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. Conversely, he is unable to achieve this due to the manner he – and, to an extent, the nation more generally – now practices political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir is unable to transform the political culture on his own, but he can do something about his own role in it. The simple truth is that he could run the centre of government much more effectively than he currently does. If he did this, he might find that the nation was in less dismay about his government than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more effectively.

Staffing Issues in No 10

Some of the issues in Downing Street are about personnel. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are hard to know well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make sound staffing decisions, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to improve his performance, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He hesitated about giving the key job of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He made a former official his top aide, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of the Administration

Every prime minister devote excessive time overseas and on international matters, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time conversing with MPs and hearing the citizens. Prime ministers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens 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 now has.

The biggest issues, however, are structural. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 report on reforming 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 reorganizing the roles of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

The dominant political role of prime ministers far outdistances the support available to them. Consequently, all aspects suffer, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This isn't Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the casualty of previous shortcomings along with the author of present ones. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the centre and prioritize governmental structures have been disappointed. Sadly, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.