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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his party members think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue 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 attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to concede 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 resign, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing evident political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention 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 at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to