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"I will remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if the conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point 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 offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister 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 outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- 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 told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to