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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region on Thursday to reveal the building of a new nuclear power station. This represents a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. However, the PM did not devote extensive time in Wales to advocating solutions for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he used the time attempting to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, telling reporters that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. Firstly, he wants his administration to be performing, and to be seen to be doing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to achieve this due to the manner he – and, partly, the country more generally – now practices political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir cannot transform the culture of politics on his own, but he is able to take action about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could manage the government's core much more effectively than he currently does. If he did this, he might find that the country was in less dismay about his administration than it is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Personnel Problems in No 10

Some of the problems in Number 10 relate to individuals. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are hard to know accurately from the exterior. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Perhaps he is too busy. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must to up his game, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He hesitated about giving the crucial role of top civil servant to a senior official.
• He appointed a former official his top aide, then substituted her with a political strategist.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Core of Government

All premiers devote excessive time overseas and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and insufficient time conversing with MPs and hearing the citizens. Prime ministers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their politically appointed staff, who tend to be party activists or ambitious in politics, cross lines or become the focus, as the chief of staff has recently.

The most significant problems, however, are structural. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's March 2024 report on reforming the centre of government. His failure to address these matters last July or since suggests he did not. The often abject experience of the Labour administration indicates IfG proposals like reorganizing the roles of the central government office and No 10, and separating the positions of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

The political pre-eminence of prime ministers far outdistances the support available to them. As a result, all aspects suffer, and much is done badly or neglected.

This isn't Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the victim of previous shortcomings as well as the author of present ones. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and prioritize governmental structures have been disappointed. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir himself.