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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any time off for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, 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.

True – in part. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to