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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if the interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

However Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to change. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret 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 backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing evident political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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