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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our conversation went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to improve. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted 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 previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been growing pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

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