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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining nobody would remove his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to improve. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to