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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted 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 controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

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