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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I aim to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, 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.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

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

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to