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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me 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 comments 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 fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight many on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to