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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate 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 observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

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

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to