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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. A faction 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.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to admit 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 resign, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known 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 struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been simmering desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to