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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is never any downtime for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

But Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," 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 throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "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 friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to