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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's ineffective 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.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem 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 contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, 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 discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks 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 more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on 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 comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some demanded denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected 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 reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to