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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting no one would remove his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to change. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

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

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with 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