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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk next year.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant 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 step down, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific 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 point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, 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 prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" 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 – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

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