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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly break for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting no one would take his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as 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 facing clear political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been simmering desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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