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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

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

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government put in place during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, 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, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

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 following an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to