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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

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

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though 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 resign, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister 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 past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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