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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe 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 not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted 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 blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to