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Sir Keir Starmer visited Wales' northern region this past Thursday to announce the development of a new nuclear power station. This represents a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. Yet, the prime minister did not dedicate much 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 undermined the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his premiership has evolved into overall. On the one hand, he desires his administration to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. On the other hand, he is incapable to accomplish this because of the way he – and, partly, the country as a whole – now practices political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir is unable to change the culture of politics single-handedly, 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 much more effectively than he currently does. If he did this, he might find that the country was in less despair about his government than it is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

Some of the problems in Number 10 are about individuals. The personal dynamics of any No 10 regime are difficult to discern well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not 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, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He hesitated about assigning the key job of top civil servant to Chris Wormald.
• He made Sue Gray his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of Government

Every prime minister spend too much time overseas and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and insufficient time talking to parliamentarians and listening to the citizens. Prime ministers also allocate too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir worsens by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot claim to be surprised when their political appointees, who tend to be party loyalists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the story, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The most significant problems, though, are systemic. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir read the a think tank's spring 2024 study on overhauling the centre of government. His inability to address these matters in the summer or afterward implies he did not. The often abject experience of the Labour administration indicates IfG proposals like restructuring the roles of the central government office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

The political pre-eminence of PMs greatly exceeds the support available to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or ignored.

This isn't Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He is the casualty of past failures as well as the architect of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir might get a grip on the centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Sadly, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.