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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for 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 made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to