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Sir Keir Starmer visited north Wales on Thursday to reveal the building of a new nuclear power station. This represents a significant policy event with both local and national implications. However, the PM did not dedicate much time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's energy needs. Rather, he used the time attempting to put an end to the Labour leadership briefing row, informing reporters that No 10 had not undermined the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his premiership has now become more generally. Firstly, he desires his government to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is unable to achieve this because of the manner he – and, partly, the country more generally – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir cannot transform the political culture single-handedly, but he is able to do something about his personal involvement in it. The plain fact is that he could run the centre of government far better than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he might find that the nation was in less despair about his government than it is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

Some of the problems in Number 10 are about individuals. The interpersonal relations of every Downing Street operation are difficult to discern well from outside. Yet it appears clear that Sir Keir does not make sound staffing decisions, or stick with 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 Chris Wormald.
• He made Sue Gray his top aide, then replaced her with Morgan McSweeney.
• 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 the Administration

All premiers spend too much time abroad and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time conversing with parliamentarians and listening to the citizens. Premiers also spend too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. But premiers cannot claim to be surprised when their political appointees, who are often party loyalists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the story, as the chief of staff has recently.

The biggest issues, though, are systemic. It would be good to think that Sir Keir reviewed the a think tank's spring 2024 study on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to address these matters last July or since suggests he did not. The often abject performance of Labour’s time in office indicates IfG proposals like reorganizing the functions of the central government office and Downing Street, and dividing the positions of top official and civil service head, are currently critical.

The dominant political role of prime ministers 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 fault alone. He stands as the casualty of past failures as well as the author of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Unfortunately, the primary casualty from this shortcoming is Sir Keir himself.