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Sir Keir Starmer visited Wales' northern region on Thursday to announce the building of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This is a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. Yet, the prime minister did not dedicate much time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he used the time trying to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, informing journalists that No 10 had not briefed against the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. On the one hand, he wants his government to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. Conversely, he is unable to accomplish this because of the way he – and, to an extent, the country more generally – now practices political and governmental affairs.

Sir Keir cannot transform the culture of politics on his own, but he is able to do something about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could run the centre of government far better than he currently does. If he did this, he might find that the country was in less despair about his government than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

A number of the issues 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 stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to improve his performance, not do things slowly or incompletely.

• He dithered about giving the key job of top civil servant to a senior official.
• He made Sue Gray his top aide, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Heart of Government

Every prime minister spend too much time overseas and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time talking to parliamentarians and listening to the citizens. Premiers also allocate too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot express surprise when their politically appointed staff, who tend to be party activists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the story, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The most significant problems, though, are systemic. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir read the a think tank's spring 2024 study on overhauling the government's central operations. His failure to address these matters last July or afterward suggests he did not. The frequently dismal performance of Labour’s time in office indicates IfG proposals like restructuring the roles of the central government office and Downing Street, and separating the positions of top official and civil service head, are now urgent.

The dominant political role of prime ministers far outdistances the support available to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He is the victim of past failures as well as the architect of present ones. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Sadly, the primary casualty from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.