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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

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

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

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