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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never truly break for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not realising 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 progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes 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 at ease with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been growing desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake 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 EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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