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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if the interview went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge 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 attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication 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 a long period, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to