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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in the coming year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to improve. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard 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 more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted 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 past remarks he'd previously made – such as 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 fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance 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 opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have 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 definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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