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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our conversation went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – 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 suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

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

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to