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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never any break for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central message is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing evident political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it before 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 growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to