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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk next year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to get better. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me 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 following an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires 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 many years, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to