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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any break for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to get better. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to