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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if our discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his standing are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that many of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major 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 guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

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 just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM 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 controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some demanded condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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