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Prime Minister Starmer visited Wales' northern region this past Thursday to reveal the building of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This represents a major policy announcement with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the PM did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to promoting solutions for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he spent it trying to put an end to the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, informing journalists that Downing Street had not briefed against the health secretary's goals earlier this week.

As such, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his premiership has evolved into more generally. Firstly, he wants his government to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is incapable to accomplish this due to the way he – and, partly, the country as a whole – now conducts politics and government.

The Prime Minister is unable to change the culture of politics on his own, 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 far better than he currently 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 communicating his points more effectively.

Personnel Problems in No 10

Some of the issues in Downing Street relate to individuals. The personal dynamics of any No 10 regime are hard to know well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir fails to make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to improve his performance, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He hesitated about giving the crucial role of top civil servant to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed Sue Gray his top aide, then substituted her with Morgan McSweeney.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Political and policy advisers have come and gone.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Core of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time conversing with MPs and hearing the public. Prime ministers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. Yet leaders cannot claim to be surprised when their political appointees, who tend to be party loyalists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the focus, as Mr McSweeney has recently.

The biggest issues, however, are structural. It would be good to think 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 performance of Labour’s time in office suggests IfG proposals like restructuring the functions of the central government office and No 10, and dividing the jobs of top official and head of the civil service, are currently critical.

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

This isn't Sir Keir’s fault alone. He stands as the casualty of past failures as well as the architect of present ones. But those who hoped Sir Keir might get a grip on the core and take the machinery of government seriously have been let down. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir himself.