🔗 Share this article

"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to