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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region on Thursday to reveal the construction of a new nuclear power station. This is a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. However, the PM did not devote much time in Wales to advocating solutions for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he used the time trying to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling reporters that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his premiership has now become overall. Firstly, he desires his administration to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. On the other hand, he is incapable to accomplish this due to the way he – and, partly, the country as a whole – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir cannot change the culture of politics single-handedly, but he is able to do something about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could run the government's core much more effectively than he does. Should he achieve this, he could discover 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 Downing Street

Some of the issues in Downing Street are about individuals. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are difficult to discern accurately from the exterior. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must to improve his performance, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He dithered about assigning the key job of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He made a former official his top aide, then substituted her with a political strategist.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Core of the Administration

Every prime minister devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little conversing with parliamentarians and hearing the public. Premiers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who are often party activists or ambitious in politics, cross lines or become the story, as the chief of staff now has.

The most significant problems, though, are systemic. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's spring 2024 report 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 Labour’s time in office suggests recommendations 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 political pre-eminence of PMs far outdistances the support available to them. As a result, all aspects suffer, and much is done badly or neglected.

This isn't Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the victim of past failures along with the architect of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the core and prioritize governmental structures have been let down. Unfortunately, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir himself.