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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

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

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government put in place during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

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

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

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

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Critics 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 coming days.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

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