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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

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

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to acknowledge 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 a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to change. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big point 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 while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political perils 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 ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to