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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little 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 difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

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