🔗 Share this article

"I will be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just some 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 difficult end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

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

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, does he need a different script?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

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

Starmer blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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