🔗 Share this article

"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I plan to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to improve. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to