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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back 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 – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing clear political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to