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"I will remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, 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 usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister 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 excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of 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 – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes 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 likely elicit protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

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