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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region on Thursday to reveal the construction of a new nuclear power station. This represents a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. However, the prime minister did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he spent it attempting to put an end to the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling reporters that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. Firstly, he wants his administration to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to achieve this due to the way he – and, to an extent, the nation more generally – now conducts political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir is unable to transform the political culture on his own, but he can 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 administration than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Staffing Issues in Downing Street

A number of the issues in Downing Street relate to individuals. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are hard to know well from outside. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not make sound staffing decisions, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to up his game, avoid slow progress or by halves.

• He hesitated about assigning the key job of top civil servant to Chris Wormald.
• He made Sue Gray his top aide, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Advisors on politics and policy have entered and exited.
• The situation is chaotic.

Systemic Issues at the Heart of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little talking to parliamentarians and listening to the public. Premiers also allocate too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by performing inadequately. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who tend to be party activists or ambitious in politics, cross lines or become the focus, as the chief of staff has recently.

The biggest issues, though, are structural. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's spring 2024 report on overhauling the centre of government. His failure to address these matters last July or since implies he did not. The often abject performance of the Labour administration indicates 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 assistance provided to them. As a result, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This isn't Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the victim of previous shortcomings along with the author of present ones. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the core and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Sadly, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.