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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region this past Thursday to announce the development of a new nuclear power station. This represents a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the prime minister did not dedicate much time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he used the time trying 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.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. Firstly, he desires his administration to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is unable to accomplish this because of the way he – and, partly, the country more generally – now practices politics and government.

The Prime Minister is unable to change the political culture single-handedly, but he can do something about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could run the centre of government much more effectively than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the country was in less despair about his government than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more effectively.

Personnel Problems in No 10

A number of the issues in Downing Street are about personnel. The interpersonal relations of any No 10 regime are hard to know accurately from the exterior. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to up his game, not do things slowly or incompletely.

• He dithered about giving the key job of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He made Sue Gray his top aide, then substituted her with a political strategist.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have chopped and changed.
• Advisors on politics and policy have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Heart of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little talking to parliamentarians and listening to the public. Premiers also spend too much time doing media, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who are often party activists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the story, as Mr McSweeney has recently.

The most significant problems, however, are structural. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s March 2024 study on reforming the centre of government. His inability to grip these issues in the summer or afterward suggests he did not. The often abject performance of the Labour administration indicates recommendations like reorganizing the roles of the central government office and No 10, and separating the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are currently critical.

The dominant political role of PMs far outdistances the assistance provided to them. Consequently, everything currently suffers, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This isn't Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the victim of past failures as well as the author of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir might get a grip on the centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir personally.