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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if our conversation was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although 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 circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me 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 comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to