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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

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

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. 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 implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of 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 certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" 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 – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to