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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any break for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just some 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 saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

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

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

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.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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 after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting clear political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

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

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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