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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if our conversation was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I aim to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to