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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the discussion went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor 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 sought to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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 encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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 backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify 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 unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Opponents called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to