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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

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

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to