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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if our interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged 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 ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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