🔗 Share this article

"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably eager for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

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

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails 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 notion he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to