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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his standing are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret 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 backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting clear political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to