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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his political fate are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting no one would strip his five-year mandate 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 times and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement 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 discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former 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 told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been growing pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to 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