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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to improve. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM 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 backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

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