🔗 Share this article

"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our interview went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never any time off for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, maybe excessively, 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 even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso 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 revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk 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 notion he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to