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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if the discussion was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out in 2026.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to improve. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a different script?

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

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.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to