🔗 Share this article

"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

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

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega 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 – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister 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 after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk 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 notion he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit 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 outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to