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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if our discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing no one would remove his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to improve. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to