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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if the discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried 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 about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with increased political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, 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 "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Critics demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision 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