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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

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

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the leader is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to get better. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and especially 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 only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

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