🔗 Share this article

"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the interview went well, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister 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 after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier 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 takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been simmering tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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