🔗 Share this article

"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his political fate are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

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

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

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former 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 stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been simmering pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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