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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Starmer declared, 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 truly time off for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his 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 terrible political year for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry 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 failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to