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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

However Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans 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 wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to