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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to improve. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister 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 demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "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 inviting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to