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Prime Minister Starmer visited north Wales this past Thursday to announce the building of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the prime minister did not devote extensive time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he used the time attempting to put an end to the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling journalists that No 10 had not briefed against the health secretary's goals in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has evolved into overall. Firstly, he wants his administration to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is unable to achieve this due to the manner he – and, partly, the country as a whole – now conducts political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir is unable to change the culture of politics on his own, but he is able to take action about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could manage the government's core much more effectively than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the nation was in less despair about his government than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Staffing Issues in Downing Street

A number of the issues in Number 10 are about personnel. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are difficult to discern accurately from the exterior. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Perhaps he is too busy. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must to up his game, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He dithered about giving the crucial role of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He made a former official his chief of staff, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Core of the Administration

All premiers spend too much time overseas and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and insufficient time talking to MPs and hearing the public. Premiers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. But premiers 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 the chief of staff now has.

The biggest issues, however, are systemic. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 report on overhauling the centre of government. His failure to grip these issues last July or afterward suggests he did not. The often abject performance of Labour’s time in office indicates IfG proposals like reorganizing the functions of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and dividing the positions of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are currently critical.

The dominant political role of prime ministers greatly exceeds the support available to them. As a result, all aspects suffer, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He is the casualty of previous shortcomings along with the author 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 disappointed. Unfortunately, the primary casualty from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.