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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if the interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted 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.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" 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.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

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