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"I will remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point 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 guard a potential peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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