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Sir Keir Starmer visited Wales' northern region on Thursday to announce the construction of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a significant policy event with both local and national implications. Yet, the prime minister did not devote much time in Wales to advocating answers for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he spent it attempting to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, informing journalists that No 10 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 prime ministership has evolved into overall. On the one hand, he desires his administration to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. On the other hand, he is incapable to accomplish this because of the way he – and, to an extent, the nation as a whole – now conducts political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir cannot transform the culture of politics single-handedly, but he can take action about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could manage 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 is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

Some 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 fails to make sound staffing decisions, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to up his game, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He dithered about giving the key job of top civil servant to a senior official.
• He made a former official his chief of staff, then substituted her with a political strategist.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have been frequently replaced.
• Advisors on politics and policy have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Core of Government

All premiers devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little conversing with parliamentarians and listening to the citizens. Premiers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. But premiers cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who tend to be party activists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the focus, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The biggest issues, though, are systemic. It would be good to think that Sir Keir read the a think tank's spring 2024 study on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or since suggests he did not. The frequently dismal performance of the Labour administration suggests recommendations like restructuring the roles of the central government 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 prime ministers 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 architect of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.