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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if the interview went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

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

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than 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 councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need 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.

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

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

And he is courting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing 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 such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

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

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

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to