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"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his standing are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I intend to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – 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 situation under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to improve. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political dangers 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 ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to