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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is challenging, 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 "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir 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 facing obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to