🔗 Share this article

"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if the interview went well, he might invite us into his official residence for another talk in the coming year.

There is never any break for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

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

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. 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 suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to improve. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to