🔗 Share this article

"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his political fate are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably eager for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to