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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his standing are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining no one would take 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 replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I intend to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to improve. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, does he need a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to