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"I will remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his standing are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge 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 resign, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to