🔗 Share this article

"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if the conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

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

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his standing are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" 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 – including 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 fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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