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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout 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 about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to improve. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy 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 his career, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn 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.

There has also long been growing pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

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