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Sir Keir Starmer traveled to 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. Yet, the prime minister did not dedicate extensive time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's energy needs. Instead, he spent it attempting to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, telling reporters that Downing Street had not undermined the health secretary's goals in recent days.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a small-scale example of what his premiership has now become more generally. Firstly, he desires his government to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. On the other hand, he is unable to accomplish this because of the way he – and, partly, the country more generally – now practices politics and government.

Sir Keir is unable to transform the political culture on his own, but he can do something about his own role in it. The simple truth is that he could run the government's core far better than he does. If he did this, he could discover that the nation was in less despair about his administration than it currently is, and that he was getting his messages across more successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

Some of the issues in Downing Street relate to personnel. The interpersonal relations of any No 10 regime 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, not do things slowly or by halves.

• He hesitated about giving the key job of top civil servant to Chris Wormald.
• He made a former official his chief of staff, then substituted her with a political strategist.
• He recruited Darren Jones in from the finance ministry as his deputy.
• His communications chiefs have been frequently replaced.
• Political and policy advisers have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Systemic Issues at the Heart of Government

All premiers devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and insufficient time conversing with parliamentarians and hearing the citizens. Premiers also spend too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. Yet leaders cannot claim to be surprised when their politically appointed staff, who tend to be party loyalists or ambitious in politics, overstep boundaries or become the focus, as the chief of staff now has.

The most significant problems, however, are systemic. It would be good to believe that Sir Keir read the a think tank's March 2024 report on reforming the centre of government. His failure to grip these issues in the summer or afterward implies he did not. The often abject experience of Labour’s time in office suggests recommendations like reorganizing the functions of the central government office and No 10, and dividing the positions of top official and civil service head, are now urgent.

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

This isn't Sir Keir’s sole responsibility. He is the victim of past failures along with the author of current mistakes. Yet individuals who expected Sir Keir might get a grip on the centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Sadly, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir personally.