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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for another talk in 2026.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the PM is that many of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about 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 even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, does he need a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails 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 a long period, the thought he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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