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Prime Minister Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region on Thursday to announce the development of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This is a significant policy event with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the prime minister did not devote extensive time in Wales to advocating solutions for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he spent it attempting to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, informing reporters that No 10 had not briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a small-scale example of what his premiership has evolved into more generally. On the one hand, he desires his administration to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, important things. Conversely, he is unable to accomplish this because of the way he – and, partly, the country as a whole – now practices politics and government.

The Prime Minister is unable to transform the culture of politics single-handedly, but he can take action about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could run the centre of government far better than he does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the country was in less dismay about his government than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Staffing Issues in No 10

A number of the problems in Downing Street are about personnel. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are difficult to discern well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make sound staffing decisions, or maintain them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. But he needs to improve his performance, avoid slow progress or by halves.

• He dithered about assigning the key job of top civil servant to a senior official.
• He appointed a former official his chief of staff, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• His media advisors have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• The situation is chaotic.

Systemic Issues at the Heart of Government

Every prime minister devote excessive time overseas and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and insufficient time talking to parliamentarians and hearing the citizens. Premiers also allocate too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir worsens by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who tend to be party activists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as the chief of staff now has.

The most significant problems, though, are systemic. It would be good to think that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 report on reforming the government's central operations. His inability to address these matters last July or afterward implies he did not. The often abject experience of Labour’s time in office suggests IfG proposals like reorganizing the functions of the central government office and Downing Street, and separating the jobs of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are currently critical.

The dominant political role of PMs far outdistances the assistance provided to them. Consequently, all aspects suffer, and many tasks are poorly executed or ignored.

This is not Sir Keir’s fault alone. He stands as the victim of past failures as well as the author of present ones. But those who hoped Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Unfortunately, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.