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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining nobody would strip 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 switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I intend to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to get better. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

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

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as 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 inviting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been simmering tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to