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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific 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 full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

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

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including 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 it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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