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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to get better. He sought to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back 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 – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

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

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to