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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

There is never any break for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his political fate are about to get better?

Party Concerns

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

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to improve. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential 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 I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

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

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments 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 not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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