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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

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

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" 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 – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to