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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if the discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to