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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the discussion went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never truly time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his political fate are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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 after an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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