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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 both local and national implications. However, the PM did not dedicate much time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he used the time attempting to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, telling journalists that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his premiership has evolved into more generally. Firstly, he desires his government to be performing, and to be seen to be doing, important things. Conversely, he is unable to accomplish this because of the manner he – and, partly, the country more generally – now practices political and governmental affairs.

The Prime Minister cannot change the political culture on his own, but he can do something about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could manage the government's core much more effectively than he does. If he did this, he might find that the nation was in less despair about his administration than it is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Staffing Issues in No 10

Some of the problems in Downing Street are about individuals. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are hard to know well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to improve his performance, not do things slowly or by halves.

• He hesitated about giving the key job of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed a former official his top aide, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Core of Government

All premiers devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little conversing with parliamentarians and hearing the public. Premiers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who tend to be party activists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the story, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The biggest issues, though, are systemic. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 study on reforming the government's central operations. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or since suggests he did not. The frequently dismal experience of Labour’s time in office suggests IfG proposals like reorganizing the functions of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are currently critical.

The political pre-eminence of prime ministers greatly exceeds the assistance provided 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 stands as the victim of previous shortcomings along with the author of present ones. But those who hoped Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Sadly, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.