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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of 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.

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

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship 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 many years, the thought he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been growing desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to