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Prime Minister Starmer traveled to north Wales this past Thursday to reveal the construction of a new nuclear power station. This is a significant policy event with both local and national implications. However, the PM did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to advocating answers for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he spent it attempting to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, informing journalists that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his premiership has now become more generally. On the one hand, he desires his administration to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, significant actions. Conversely, he is unable to achieve this due to the manner he – and, partly, the country more generally – now practices political and governmental affairs.

The Prime Minister is unable to transform the political culture on his own, but he is able to take action about his own role in it. The simple truth is that he could run the centre of government much more effectively than he does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the country was in less despair about his government than it is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Staffing Issues in No 10

A number of the problems in Number 10 are about personnel. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are hard to know accurately from the exterior. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Perhaps he is too busy. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. But he needs to up his game, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He dithered about assigning the key job of top civil servant to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed a former official his top aide, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Core of Government

All premiers devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and too little conversing with parliamentarians and hearing the public. Prime ministers also spend too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot claim to be surprised when their politically appointed staff, who are often party loyalists or ambitious in politics, cross lines 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 read the Institute for Government’s spring 2024 study on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to address these matters in the summer or afterward suggests he did not. The often abject experience of Labour’s time in office suggests recommendations like restructuring the functions of the central government office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

The dominant political role of prime ministers greatly exceeds the support available 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 casualty of previous shortcomings along with the author of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the centre and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir personally.