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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. 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 implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

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