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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

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

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his political fate are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed 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 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to get better. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

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

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting clear political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to