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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the conversation went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his standing are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, 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 allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight many on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to