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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to