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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out in 2026.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM 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 – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to