🔗 Share this article

"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never any break for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister 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 statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify 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 progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

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