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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly break for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been growing desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to