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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to