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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if the conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

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

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing clear political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk 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 his career, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to