🔗 Share this article

"I will remain in this office by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central message is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy 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 more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

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

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

Starmer blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to