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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret 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 after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to