🔗 Share this article

"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the conversation went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, 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 admit it, No 10 will be judged 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 be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted 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 controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication 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 his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been growing desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to