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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

But despite facing demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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

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

And he is facing clear political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails 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 a long period, 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 champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to