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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

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

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to change. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate 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".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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