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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if our discussion went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for another chat in the coming year.

There is rarely ever break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following 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 more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to