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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his term 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 change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I plan to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

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

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted 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 previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration 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 party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to