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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly break for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister 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 devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably eager for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged 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 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 stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted 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 – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires 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 many years, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to