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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big argument is that soon 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 a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

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