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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would take his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to improve. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government implemented during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't 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 stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to