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Prime Minister Starmer traveled to north Wales on Thursday to declare the building of a new nuclear power station. This is a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. However, the PM did not devote much time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he spent it attempting to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, informing journalists that No 10 had not undermined the health secretary's goals in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his premiership has evolved into overall. Firstly, he desires his government to be performing, and to be seen to be doing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to accomplish this due to the manner he – and, to an extent, the nation as a whole – now practices political and governmental affairs.

The Prime Minister cannot change the political culture single-handedly, but he can take action about his own role in it. The simple truth is that he could run the centre of government far better than he does. If he did this, he could discover 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 Number 10 are about personnel. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are hard to know accurately from the exterior. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not make sound staffing decisions, or stick with them. Perhaps he is too busy. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to up his game, avoid slow progress or by halves.

• He dithered about assigning the key job of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He made Sue Gray his top aide, 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.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of Government

All premiers devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little talking to MPs and hearing the citizens. Premiers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who tend to be party loyalists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The biggest issues, however, are systemic. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's spring 2024 study on reforming the government's central operations. 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 indicates IfG proposals like reorganizing the roles of the central government office and Downing Street, and separating the positions of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are now urgent.

The dominant political role of prime ministers greatly exceeds the assistance provided to them. As a result, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or ignored.

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He stands as the victim of previous shortcomings as well as the architect 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 let down. Sadly, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir himself.