🔗 Share this article

"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if the discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in the coming year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his political fate are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing no one would remove his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret 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 outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy 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 idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been simmering pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to