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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into his official residence for another conversation next year.

There is rarely ever break for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although 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 walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to improve. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to