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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if the discussion went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any break for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would take his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

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

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

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