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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting nobody would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The May Elections

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

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to get better. He sought to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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