🔗 Share this article

"I will be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if our discussion went well, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly break for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

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

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret 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 outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political perils as the year unfolds. 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 opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight many on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to