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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a major 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 devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to change. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

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

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core argument 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 – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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 outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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