🔗 Share this article

"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

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

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

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

Internal Doubts

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

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to improve. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

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

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to