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Prime Minister Starmer traveled to north Wales on Thursday to announce the building of a new nuclear power station. This is a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. Yet, the prime minister did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he spent it attempting to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, informing journalists that No 10 had not undermined the health secretary's goals in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his premiership has evolved into more generally. Firstly, he wants his administration to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. On the other hand, he is incapable to accomplish this due to the manner he – and, to an extent, the nation more generally – now practices politics and government.

Sir Keir cannot change the culture of politics on his own, but he is able to take action about his personal involvement in it. The simple truth is that he could manage the government's core far better than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the country was in less despair about his government than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

Some of the problems in Downing Street are about individuals. The interpersonal relations of any No 10 regime are hard to know accurately from the exterior. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir fails to make sound staffing decisions, or maintain them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must to up his game, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He hesitated about assigning the crucial role of top civil servant to Chris Wormald.
• He made a former official his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• His media advisors have been frequently replaced.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Core of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time abroad and on international matters, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time talking to MPs and listening to the public. Premiers 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 politically appointed staff, who tend to be party activists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the story, 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 report on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or since implies he did not. The often abject experience of the Labour administration suggests IfG proposals like reorganizing the roles of the central government office and Downing Street, and separating the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are currently critical.

The dominant political role of PMs far outdistances the support available to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and much is done badly or neglected.

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He is the casualty of previous shortcomings along with the architect of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Sadly, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.