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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to north Wales on Thursday to announce the building of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This is a significant policy event with implications at local and countrywide levels. Yet, the prime minister did not devote much time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he used the time trying to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, informing journalists that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary's goals in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his premiership has evolved into overall. On the one hand, he wants his government to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is unable to achieve this due to the way he – and, partly, the nation as a whole – now practices political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir cannot transform the political culture on his own, but he is able to do something about his personal involvement in it. The simple truth is that he could run the government's core much more effectively than he currently does. If he did 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 successfully.

Personnel Problems in No 10

Some of the issues in Downing Street relate to personnel. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are difficult to discern accurately from the exterior. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make sound staffing decisions, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must to improve his performance, not do things slowly or by halves.

• He dithered about assigning the key job of top civil servant to a senior official.
• He made a former official his top aide, then substituted her with a political strategist.
• He recruited Darren Jones 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.

Systemic Issues at the Core of the Administration

Every prime minister devote excessive time overseas and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little conversing with MPs and hearing the public. Premiers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who tend to be party loyalists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the story, as the chief of staff has recently.

The most significant problems, though, are systemic. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's March 2024 study on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to grip these issues last July or afterward implies he did not. The frequently dismal performance of the Labour administration indicates IfG proposals like reorganizing the roles of the Cabinet 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, all aspects suffer, and many tasks are poorly executed or ignored.

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the victim of previous shortcomings along with the architect of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.