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"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk next year.

There is rarely ever break for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him this year.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I plan to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive 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 protect a possible peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted 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 following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting 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.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to