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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never any time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him this year.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting no one would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The problem 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 attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely 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 coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big 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 – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted 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 controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Based on years of interviewing 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 these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been simmering tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to