🔗 Share this article

"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The challenge 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 sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to improve. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said 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 time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

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