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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to north Wales on Thursday to announce the construction of a new nuclear power station. This is a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the PM did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he used the time attempting to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, telling reporters that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his premiership has evolved into more generally. Firstly, he desires his government to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. Conversely, he is incapable to achieve this because of the manner he – and, partly, the nation as a whole – now practices politics and government.

The Prime Minister is unable to transform the culture of politics on his own, but he can take action about his own role in it. The simple truth is that he could manage 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 administration than it is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

A number of the issues in Number 10 are about individuals. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are difficult to discern well from outside. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Perhaps he is too busy. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to improve his performance, not do things slowly or by halves.

• He dithered about assigning the key job of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He appointed a former official his chief of staff, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Core of Government

Every prime minister spend too much time abroad and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little talking to parliamentarians and listening to the citizens. Prime ministers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their politically appointed staff, who are often party activists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the story, as the chief of staff now has.

The most significant problems, 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 address these matters last July or since suggests he did not. The often abject experience of Labour’s time in office suggests IfG proposals like restructuring the functions of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and dividing the positions of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are now urgent.

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

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the victim of previous shortcomings as well as the author of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the centre and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.