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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, 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, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

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

But Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He tried to convince me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said 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 major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

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

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to