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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our interview went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about 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 scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to get better. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not realising 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 alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with 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