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"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem 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 attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though 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 scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement 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 considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" 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 – came to light.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action 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 thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to