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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to improve. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close 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 time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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