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"I will remain in this office by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe 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 – in part. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

No government, 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 only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret 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 backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "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 unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to