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"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer 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 dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" 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 – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to