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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if our conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never truly time off for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I aim to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to get better. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, 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 talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as desired.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of 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.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on 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 content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure 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 consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to