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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to north Wales on Thursday to announce the building of a new nuclear power station. This is a significant policy event with both local and national implications. However, the prime minister did not devote extensive time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he spent it attempting to put an end to the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling journalists that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a small-scale example of what his premiership has evolved into overall. On the one hand, he wants his government to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. Conversely, he is incapable to achieve this because of the way he – and, partly, the nation as a whole – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir is unable to transform the political culture on his own, but he is able to do something about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could run the government's core far better than he does. If he did this, he could discover that the nation was in less despair about his government than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Staffing Issues in Downing Street

A number of the issues in Downing Street are about individuals. 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 good personnel choices, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must to improve his performance, not do things slowly or incompletely.

• He hesitated about assigning the key job of top civil servant to a senior official.
• He appointed a former official his top aide, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Core of Government

Every prime minister spend too much time overseas and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time conversing with parliamentarians and hearing the citizens. Premiers also spend too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. But premiers cannot express surprise when their politically appointed staff, who tend to be party loyalists or ambitious in politics, cross lines or become the focus, as the chief of staff now has.

The biggest issues, though, are structural. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 study on overhauling the government's central operations. His failure to address these matters last July or afterward suggests he did not. The frequently dismal experience of the Labour administration suggests IfG proposals like restructuring the functions of the central government office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are currently critical.

The political pre-eminence of prime ministers far outdistances the assistance provided to them. As a result, all aspects suffer, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He stands as the casualty of previous shortcomings along with the author of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and prioritize governmental structures have been disappointed. Sadly, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.