🔗 Share this article

"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is never any break for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that many of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on 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 one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to