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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if our conversation went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though 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 situation under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to change. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister 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 outcry when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before 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 long been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

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