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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

There is never any downtime for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his political fate are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe 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.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to change. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso 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 revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister 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 statements he'd made in the past – including 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 it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to