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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

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

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to get better. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

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

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM 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 following an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to