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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

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 attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, 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 – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to change. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to