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"I will remain in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, does he need a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy 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 "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires 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 a long period, the thought he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been growing desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to