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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action before 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 always been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A move 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