🔗 Share this article

"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him 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 electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal 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 integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising 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 progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to