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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation next year.

There is never truly time off for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

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

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core point is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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