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Sir Keir Starmer visited north Wales this past Thursday to announce the development of a new nuclear power station. This is a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the prime minister did not dedicate much time in Wales to advocating solutions for the UK's power requirements. Instead, he spent it trying to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, informing journalists that No 10 had not briefed against the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has now become overall. Firstly, he desires his government to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, significant actions. On the other hand, he is incapable to achieve this because of the way he – and, to an extent, the country more generally – now conducts political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir is unable to change the political culture single-handedly, but he is able to do something about his own role in it. The simple truth is that he could run the government's core much more effectively than he currently 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 effectively.

Personnel Problems in No 10

A number of the issues in Downing Street relate to personnel. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are hard to know accurately from the exterior. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to improve his performance, avoid slow progress or by halves.

• He dithered about giving the key job of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He appointed Sue Gray his top aide, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Core of Government

All premiers devote excessive time overseas and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time conversing with parliamentarians and hearing the public. Prime ministers also allocate too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. Yet leaders cannot claim to be surprised when their political appointees, who are often party activists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the story, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The most significant problems, though, are structural. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's March 2024 study on reforming the government's central operations. His inability to address these matters last July or afterward implies he did not. The often abject performance of Labour’s time in office indicates recommendations like restructuring the roles of the central government office and Downing Street, and separating the jobs of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are now urgent.

The political pre-eminence of PMs greatly exceeds the support available to them. Consequently, all aspects suffer, and much is done badly or neglected.

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. 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 centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Unfortunately, the primary casualty from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.