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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I aim to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, 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 concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is courting evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to