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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat 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 comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big point is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to