🔗 Share this article

"I'll remain in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if our interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never any break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back 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.

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

And he is facing clear political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to