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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his political fate are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I plan to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to improve. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – 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 fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy 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 idea he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been growing pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to