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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I intend to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

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

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, 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 rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed 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 this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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