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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

There is never truly break for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would take his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, does he need a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

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 past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes 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 notion he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to