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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation next year.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I aim to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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 facing clear political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to