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Sir Keir Starmer visited Wales' northern region this past Thursday to reveal the construction of a new nuclear power station. This represents a major policy announcement with both local and national implications. However, the prime minister did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to advocating answers 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 No 10 had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions in recent days.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his prime ministership has evolved into overall. On the one hand, he wants his government to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, important things. On the other hand, he is unable to accomplish this due to the way he – and, partly, the country more generally – now practices politics and government.

The Prime Minister cannot transform the culture of politics single-handedly, but he is able to take action about his own role in it. The simple truth 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 government than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more effectively.

Personnel Problems 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 well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or maintain them. Perhaps he is too busy. Possibly he lacks genuine interest. However, he must to up his game, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He hesitated about giving the key job of cabinet secretary to a senior official.
• He appointed Sue Gray his top aide, then substituted her with a political strategist.
• He recruited a Treasury figure in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone.
• The situation is chaotic.

Structural Challenges at the Heart of the Administration

Every prime minister devote excessive time overseas and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little conversing with parliamentarians and hearing the public. Prime ministers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot claim to be surprised when their political appointees, who tend to be party activists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the story, as Mr McSweeney has recently.

The biggest issues, however, are systemic. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s March 2024 report on reforming the centre of government. His inability to address these matters last July or afterward suggests he did not. The often abject experience of the Labour administration suggests IfG proposals like restructuring the functions of the Cabinet Office and Downing Street, and separating the positions of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, are currently critical.

The political pre-eminence of prime ministers greatly exceeds the assistance provided to them. As a result, everything currently suffers, and much is done badly or ignored.

This is not Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He stands as the casualty of previous shortcomings as well as the author of present ones. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir would take control of the centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.