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"I will be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if the discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally eager for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" 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 – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

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

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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