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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

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

But Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge 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 not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government put in place during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to