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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever break 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 work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

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 attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me 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 backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to