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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his standing are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want 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 resign, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point 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 offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been growing pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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