🔗 Share this article

"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if our conversation went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his political fate are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would take his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to improve. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes 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 comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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