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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to north Wales on Thursday to announce the development of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This is a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the prime minister did not devote much time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he spent it trying to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, informing journalists that No 10 had not briefed against the health secretary's goals in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a small-scale example of what his premiership has evolved into more generally. On the one hand, he wants his government to be performing, and to be seen to be doing, significant actions. On the other hand, he is incapable to accomplish this due to the way he – and, partly, the nation as a whole – now conducts political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir cannot change the political culture on his own, but he can do something about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could run the government's core far better than he does. If he did this, he might find that the nation was in less dismay about his administration than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more effectively.

Personnel Problems in No 10

Some of the problems in Number 10 relate to individuals. The interpersonal relations of any No 10 regime are hard to know well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Perhaps he is too busy. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to up his game, not do things slowly or by halves.

• He hesitated about giving the key job of top civil servant to a senior official.
• He appointed a former official his chief of staff, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• His media advisors have chopped and changed.
• Advisors on politics and policy have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Core of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time overseas and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little conversing with parliamentarians and listening to the public. Premiers also spend too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot claim to be surprised when their politically appointed staff, who tend to be party loyalists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as the chief of staff has recently.

The biggest issues, however, are structural. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's spring 2024 report on overhauling the centre of government. His failure to address these matters in the summer or since suggests he did not. The often abject performance of Labour’s time in office suggests recommendations like restructuring the functions of the central government office and No 10, and separating the positions of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are currently critical.

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

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He stands as the casualty of past failures along with the author of present ones. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the core and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Sadly, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir personally.