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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about 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.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

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

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.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM 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 backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been bubbling desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to