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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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