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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region this past Thursday to declare the building of a new nuclear power station. This represents a significant policy event 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 attempting to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, telling reporters that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary's goals in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a small-scale example of what his prime ministership has evolved into overall. On the one hand, he wants his administration to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. On the other hand, he is incapable to achieve this due to the manner he – and, partly, the country as a whole – now practices politics and government.

Sir Keir is unable to transform the political culture single-handedly, but he is able to do something about his personal involvement in it. The simple truth is that he could manage the government's core much more effectively than he does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the country was in less despair about his administration than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Personnel Problems in No 10

Some of the problems in Number 10 are about individuals. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are difficult to discern well from outside. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. But he needs to improve his performance, not do things slowly or incompletely.

• He hesitated about assigning the key job of top civil servant to a senior official.
• He made Sue Gray his chief of staff, then substituted her with a political strategist.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the Treasury as his deputy.
• His media advisors have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of Government

Every prime minister devote excessive time abroad 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 worsens by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who tend to be party activists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the story, as the chief of staff now has.

The biggest issues, however, are structural. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the Institute for Government’s March 2024 report on overhauling the centre of government. His failure to address these matters in the summer or since implies he did not. The often abject experience of the Labour administration indicates IfG proposals like reorganizing the roles of the central government office and No 10, and dividing the positions of top official and head of the civil service, are currently critical.

The political pre-eminence of prime ministers greatly exceeds the assistance provided to them. Consequently, all aspects suffer, 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 architect of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Sadly, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.