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Prime Minister Starmer visited Wales' northern region on Thursday to declare the development of a new nuclear power station. This is a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. Yet, the prime minister did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he used the time attempting to put an end to the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling journalists 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 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, partly, the nation more generally – now conducts politics and government.

The Prime Minister is unable to transform the culture of politics on his own, but he is able to take action about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could manage the government's core far better than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the country was in less despair about his administration than it is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

A number of the problems in Downing Street 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 fails to make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Perhaps he is too busy. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. But he needs to improve his performance, not do things slowly or incompletely.

• He hesitated about assigning the key job of top civil servant to Chris Wormald.
• He made Sue Gray his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• 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 Government

Every prime minister devote excessive time overseas and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little conversing with MPs and hearing the citizens. Prime ministers also allocate too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir worsens by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot express surprise when their politically appointed staff, who tend to be party loyalists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the focus, as the chief of staff has recently.

The biggest issues, though, are systemic. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir read the a think tank's March 2024 report on reforming the government's central operations. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or afterward implies he did not. The often abject experience of the Labour administration indicates IfG proposals like restructuring the roles of the Cabinet Office and Downing Street, and dividing the jobs of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, are currently critical.

The dominant political role of PMs greatly exceeds the support available to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the victim of previous shortcomings along with the author of present ones. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Sadly, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir personally.