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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never truly downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

But Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to change. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

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

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to