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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never any time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted 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 – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to