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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the discussion was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to improve. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point 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 guard a possible peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

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

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back 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.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires 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 many years, the thought he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

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