🔗 Share this article 10 Downing St Is Not Capable of the Task Prime Minister Starmer visited Wales' northern region on Thursday to declare the construction of a fresh nuclear energy facility. This is a significant policy event with implications at local and countrywide levels. However, the PM did not devote much time in Wales to promoting answers for the UK's power requirements. Instead, he used the time trying to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling journalists that No 10 had not undermined the health secretary's goals earlier this week. Therefore, Sir Keir’s day acted as a microcosm of what his premiership has now become more generally. Firstly, he wants his government to be performing, and to be perceived as performing, important things. Conversely, he is unable to achieve this due to the way he – and, partly, the country as a whole – now practices politics and government. Sir Keir is unable to change the culture of politics single-handedly, but he can do something about his personal involvement in it. The simple truth is that he could manage the government's core much more effectively than he currently does. Should he achieve this, he could discover that the nation was in less despair about his administration than it is, and that he was getting his messages across more effectively. Staffing Issues in Downing Street A number of the issues in Number 10 are about personnel. The interpersonal relations of any No 10 regime are hard to know well from outside. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make good personnel choices, or stick with them. Perhaps he is too busy. Perhaps he is not really interested. However, he must to improve his performance, avoid slow progress or by halves. He hesitated about giving the key job of cabinet secretary to a senior official. He appointed a former official his top aide, then substituted her with a political strategist. He recruited Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his chief secretary. His media advisors have chopped and changed. Advisors on politics and policy have come and gone. It is a mess. Structural Challenges at the Core of the Administration Every prime minister devote excessive time abroad and on foreign affairs, areas where Sir Keir ought to assign more tasks, and too little talking to parliamentarians and listening to the public. Prime ministers also allocate too much time engaging with the press, which Sir Keir compounds by doing it poorly. But premiers cannot express surprise when their political appointees, who are often party activists or politically ambitious, overstep boundaries or become the story, as Mr McSweeney has recently. The biggest issues, though, are systemic. It would be beneficial to think that Sir Keir read the Institute for Government’s March 2024 report on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to grip these issues last July or afterward implies he did not. The frequently dismal experience of Labour’s time in office indicates IfG proposals like restructuring the functions of the central government office and Downing Street, and dividing the positions of cabinet secretary and civil service head, are currently critical. The dominant political role of PMs greatly exceeds the assistance provided to them. As a result, everything currently suffers, and much is done badly or neglected. This isn't Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the casualty of past failures as well as the author of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Unfortunately, the biggest loser from this failure is Sir Keir himself.