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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his political fate are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, 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 suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to change. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret 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 statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to