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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any break for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about 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 acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM 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 comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to