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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

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

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I aim to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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