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Sir Keir Starmer visited Wales' northern region on Thursday to declare the building of a new nuclear power station. This is a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. Yet, the PM did not dedicate much time in Wales to advocating solutions for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he used the time trying to put an end to the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, informing journalists that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a small-scale example of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. Firstly, he desires his government to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, significant actions. On the other hand, he is unable to achieve this due to the manner he – and, partly, the country more generally – now practices politics and government.

Sir Keir cannot change the political culture on his own, but he is able to do something about his personal involvement in it. The simple truth is that he could manage the government's core much more effectively than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the nation was in less dismay about his administration than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Staffing Issues in Downing Street

A number of the issues in Number 10 relate to personnel. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are hard to know well from outside. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Perhaps he is too busy. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to improve his performance, avoid slow progress or by halves.

• He dithered about assigning the crucial role of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He made a former official his chief of staff, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of Government

Every prime minister spend too much time overseas and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little conversing with parliamentarians and hearing the public. Premiers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who are often party loyalists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the story, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The biggest issues, though, are structural. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s March 2024 report on overhauling the centre of government. His inability to address these matters last July or since implies he did not. The often abject experience of the Labour administration suggests IfG proposals like restructuring the roles of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and separating the jobs of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are now urgent.

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

This isn't Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the casualty of past failures as well as the architect of present ones. But those who hoped Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and prioritize governmental structures have been disappointed. Unfortunately, the primary casualty from this shortcoming is Sir Keir personally.