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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to improve. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

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