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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

However Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, 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 – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government enacted during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated 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 an extended period, gets everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political risks as the year progresses. His alliance 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 notion he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to