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"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

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

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

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

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 problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM 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 backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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