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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

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

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him this year.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining nobody would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM 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 backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to