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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the PM is that many of his party members think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

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 after an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been growing desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to