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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to Wales' northern region this past Thursday to announce the building of a new nuclear power station. This is a significant policy event with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the prime minister did not dedicate much time in Wales to advocating solutions for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he used the time trying to put an end to the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling reporters that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a small-scale example of what his premiership has evolved into more generally. On the one hand, he wants his government to be performing, and to be seen to be doing, important things. Conversely, he is incapable to accomplish this because of the way he – and, to an extent, the country more generally – now practices politics and government.

Sir Keir is unable to transform the culture of politics on his own, but he can 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 currently does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the country was in less despair about his government than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more effectively.

Staffing Issues in Downing Street

A number of the problems in Downing Street relate to individuals. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are hard to know accurately from the exterior. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Perhaps he is too busy. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to up his game, avoid slow progress or by halves.

• He dithered about assigning the key job of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He made a former official his top aide, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his chief secretary.
• His media advisors have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of Government

Every prime minister spend too much time abroad and on international matters, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time talking to parliamentarians and listening to the public. Prime ministers also spend too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot express surprise when their politically appointed staff, who are often party activists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the story, as Mr McSweeney now has.

The biggest issues, however, are systemic. It would be good to think that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s March 2024 study on overhauling the centre of government. His inability to address these matters last July or afterward implies he did not. The frequently dismal performance of Labour’s time in office indicates IfG proposals like reorganizing the functions of the central government office and Downing Street, and separating the jobs of top official and civil service head, are now urgent.

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 sole responsibility. He stands as the casualty of past failures as well as the architect of present ones. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Sadly, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir personally.