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Sir Keir Starmer visited north Wales this past Thursday to reveal the building of a new nuclear power station. This represents a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the PM did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to advocating solutions for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he spent it trying to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling journalists that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day acted as a small-scale example of what his premiership has evolved into overall. On the one hand, he wants his administration to be performing, and to be seen to be doing, important things. Conversely, he is unable to accomplish this due to the manner he – and, partly, the nation as a whole – now conducts political and governmental affairs.

The Prime Minister cannot transform the political culture single-handedly, but he is able to take action about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could manage the centre of government much more effectively than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the nation was in less despair about his administration than it is, and that he was communicating his points more effectively.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

A number of the problems in Downing Street relate to personnel. The personal dynamics of any No 10 regime are difficult to discern accurately from the exterior. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Perhaps he is too busy. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must 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 a former official his top aide, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the Treasury as his deputy.
• His media advisors have been frequently replaced.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Heart of the Administration

Every prime minister devote excessive time overseas and on international matters, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little talking to parliamentarians and listening to the citizens. 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 loyalists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as the chief of staff has recently.

The most significant problems, though, are structural. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's spring 2024 report on reforming the government's central operations. His failure to address these matters in the summer or afterward implies he did not. The frequently dismal experience of the Labour administration indicates IfG proposals like restructuring the roles of the Cabinet Office and No 10, and dividing the positions of top official and head of the civil service, 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 ignored.

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