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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to improve. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear 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 results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

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