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Prime Minister Starmer visited Wales' northern region on Thursday to announce the construction of a new nuclear power station. This is a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. Yet, the prime minister did not devote extensive time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he used the time attempting to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, telling journalists that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary's goals in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has now become overall. Firstly, he wants his government to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is unable to achieve this because of the manner he – and, partly, the nation more generally – now conducts politics and government.

The Prime Minister cannot change the culture of politics single-handedly, but he is able to take action about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could manage the centre of government far better than he currently does. If he did this, he might find that the nation was in less despair 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 Downing Street are about personnel. The interpersonal relations of any No 10 regime 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. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to up his game, 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 chief of staff, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Core of Government

All premiers spend too much time abroad and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little conversing with MPs and listening to the public. Prime ministers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. But premiers cannot express surprise when their politically appointed staff, who are often party loyalists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the story, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The biggest issues, though, are structural. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's March 2024 study on reforming the centre of government. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or since implies he did not. The often abject performance of the Labour administration suggests IfG proposals like restructuring the roles of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and separating the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

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

This isn't Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He is the victim of previous shortcomings as well as the architect of present ones. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Sadly, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.