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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if our discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

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

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, 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 colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister 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 past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been growing pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is going back on his promise 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 side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to