🔗 Share this article

"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if the discussion was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea 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 halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

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

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" 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 – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to