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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly break for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its 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 huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, 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 although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes 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 idea he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been growing desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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