🔗 Share this article

"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to improve. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to