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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, 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 held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to change. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

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