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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if the interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his political fate are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about 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 implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to get better. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to