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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any time off for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to change. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso 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 revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted 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 following an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action 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 consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to